


Let's Try Again Tomorrow

by undergod



Series: Let's Try Again Tomorrow (and other stories) [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: (Just Borrowing a Character), Alternate Universe - College/University, Artist Clary Fray, Artist Jace Wayland, Based on a Tumblr Post, But only because Jace is terrible at talking to Simon, Clary Fray & Isabelle Lightwood Friendship, Clary Fray & Jace Wayland Friendship, Epic Fail, F/M, Idiots in Love, Izzy fails at being a wing girl, M/M, Mentioned Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood - Freeform, Musician Simon Lewis, POV Jace Wayland, Pining, Pining Jace Wayland, Simon Lewis & Isabelle Lightwood Friendship, Slight Teen Wolf Crossover, endgame Simon Lewis/Jace Wayland
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2018-11-11 13:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undergod/pseuds/undergod
Summary: Jace meets his artistic soulmate in his life drawing workshop, junior year of college. Clary's funny, sweet, and easy to work with. Then he meets Simon.Simon's a problem.Based onthis tumblr postbyvvolfiegang:i mean, i love mutual pining SO MUCH but reading jace just not being able to handle anything simon does because his heart just beats uncontrollably and his hands sweat and he stutters over his words… HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE SO COOL AND CHARMING AND SMOOTH BUT HE’S SO GONE ON SIMON AND HE CAN’T CONTROL IT.





	1. Fall Quarter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [talktothesky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/talktothesky/gifts).



> Based on [this tumblr post](http://wolfgangkalaa.co.vu/post/161249382498/my-favorite-jimon-trope-is-jace-pining-hopelessly) by [vvolfiegang](http://wolfgangkalaa.co.vu/):
>
>> i mean, i love mutual pining SO MUCH but reading jace just not being able to handle anything simon does because his heart just beats uncontrollably and his hands sweat and he stutters over his words… HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE SO COOL AND CHARMING AND SMOOTH BUT HE’S SO GONE ON SIMON AND HE CAN’T CONTROL IT.
> 
> The prompt is much longer, but I don't want to spoil the story for those who would rather not know!
> 
> This started out as something I would write on my lunch break for a few minutes here and there. It quickly morphed into a monster. I'll be back next week with more. Enjoy!

SEPTEMBER

Jace meets Clary in life drawing class on the first day of the school year. She's attractive, a redhead with a cute smile. They bond over the excitement of making it to junior year, done with their general requirements and finally able to focus on the art workshops they came to this school for. When she turns to him and asks him to be her portrait partner, he thinks there might be something there.

Cool and smooth as ever, he asks her if she's heard about the graffiti tunnel under the bridge on the south end of campus. He heard about it from Alec, who heard about it from Magnus, who graduated from the university last year, but Jace is pretty sure the information is still good. He's thinking about checking it out Thursday night, if Clary wants to come along.

"Can I bring a friend?" Clary asks.

"Sure," Jace says, mentally adjusting his calculations. "The more the merrier."

And that's how he meets Simon.

&

When Clary said she would bring a friend, Jace expected her to bring a roommate or some other girlfriend to make sure nothing weird happens with this strange guy from class she just met. He can work with that. He’s been known to charm both a target and her wing girl, and hey—if it doesn’t work out with one, maybe it’ll work with the other. 

He was not expecting the devastatingly attractive guy that Clary greets with a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Jace, this is my best friend Simon. Simon, life drawing partner Jace," Clary introduces.

 _Best friend._ Jace is stuck on that word, and he grins in relief. His focus switches from Clary to her friend in the big, hipster glasses and short sleeved shirt unbuttoned to reveal a rumpled graphic t-shirt. The guy looks ridiculous, but —

Jace didn't even realize he has a thing for dorky guys until this moment. Somehow, the frumpy outfit doesn't detract from the height of his cheekbones or his shining dark eyes. The guy’s sunny smile causes something to flip in Jace's stomach. Jace's eyes are drawn to the way Simon’s lips move when he starts talking, but he doesn’t hear the words through his heart beating in his ears.

Eventually, he realizes that Simon has fallen silent, and both he and Clary are looking at Jace expectantly. _Crap_. How long was he staring?

"Right, nice to meet you," Jace grunts with a slight nod. Simon frowns, withdrawing his outstretched hand— _double crap_. Jace hadn't even notice Simon reaching out for a handshake. Jace's hand twitches unconsciously to grab for Simon’s hand to make up for the snub, but that might make the moment even weirder than it already is. Instead, he clenches his fists and starts heading down the hill towards the tunnel entrance under the bridge. "Let's get going," he calls back.

"Hokay then," Simon says. Jace doesn’t look back. He feels like he'll look like a fool if he does, so he keeps walking. Behind him, Simon and Clary follow, Simon whispering to Clary the whole time. "Clary, you sure this isn't a trap? Your new friend is kind of giving me a serial killer vibe here."

"Simon!" Clary exclaims. "Be nice."

"Hey, I'm not the one that's leading two perfect strangers into a secret underground tunnel for god knows what purpose. He could be a hot, tattooed version of Hannibal Lecter for all you know."

Ears burning, Jace pretends he doesn't hear.

Soon the three of them are standing at the entrance of the dank tunnel. It's five feet high, so they all have to duck to go in, but Jace leads the way with the light of his phone.

"I can't see shit," Simon complains.

"Fine. Here," Jace says, and unthinkingly reaches back and grabs for his hand.

"Whoa, buddy, come on," Simon says, trying to shake him off. Jace grips tighter and leads the way. "Come on! I'm not your type, man."

Jace rolls his eyes. Simon has no idea how wrong he is.

"I don't need you tripping and falling on your face," he tells Simon. "Come on, we're almost there. I can smell the paint."

"Here Simon, take my hand," Clary adds. Jace notices how Simon’s grip relaxes in his as soon Simon grasps Clary’s hand on the other side.

They follow the smell of spray paint to a small juncture, a section tall enough that they can straighten out and look around. Simon and Clary pull out their phones to use as flashlights too, the three of their lights enough to see by. The tunnel is covered with graffiti. The pipeline is only for water runoff when it rains, so only the bottom portion of the tunnel walls is faded and washed off. Everywhere they look are the words, pictures, and history of students who have come before.

"Here you go," Clary says, depositing a can of spray paint into Jace's hand. He raises an eyebrow at her. Here he was, thinking Clary would be so innocent. She grins impishly at him. "You really think I was going to go to a graffiti tunnel and _not_ leave my mark?"

Jace shrugged. "We only met a few days ago. I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do."

"Fair enough," Clary concedes, just as Simon calls out to them from a few feet away.

"Hey, look at this!" He’s ridiculously proud of himself as he shines his light on his contribution.

_Simon + Clary BFF Forever_

Clary laughs in delight, and Simon beams like he lives for her laughter.

Jace feels like an interloper, like he's third wheeling on a date even though _he’s_ the one who brought the two of them here. He watches them of them whisper to each other and giggle and tamps down on the unfamiliar heaviness in his chest.

“Jace,” Clary calls, pulling Jace from his thoughts. She’s shaking a can of spray paint, grinning at him from the other side of the tunnel. She’s found a spot midway off the ground with a fairly wide space of worn graffiti, smeared by time. “What are you doing all the way over there? Paint something with me.”

Simon dual wields both his and Clary’s cell phones, shining their flashlights to light the way as Jace and Clary work together with three different colors of spray paint to craft an artsy, rune inspired design. Jace has to admit, it’s a lot of fun. Clary and Jace work together well, with a natural ability to build on each other’s designs with very little need to talk. He thinks maybe she’s his artistic soul mate.

Still, he’s hyper-aware of Simon there with them, hovering just at his back. He doesn’t know what to say to the other guy, not when Simon and Clary talk to each other so fluidly. Simon talks—a lot—and Clary seems to know just when to interject with a comment or take her turn to say something. He thinks he might choke on his words if he tries, so instead of risking looking like a fool, he spends most of the night focused on his work with Clary.

At the end of it, they take pictures of their creation and head back to the dorms. The next day, Jace wakes up to a Facebook notification that Clary has sent him a friend request. He adds her back, and she immediately messages him about working together on an actual art project. On her timeline, she posts the dark photo of their runic mural and tags both him and Simon in it, thanking them both for the best first weekend of a school year she could ask for.

Simon doesn’t send him a friend request. Not that Jace cares.

&

The second week of the school year, the student auditorium hosts a free screening of some Marvel action movie Jace still hasn't seen. Clary invites him to go with her and Simon, so he brings Izzy along with him. He's not getting third wheeled again.

Surprisingly, Simon and Izzy hit it off and make quick friends bonding over what an insufferable narcissist Jace is. He knows that Izzy is joking when she says it, but he's not sure about Simon. He wracks his head for things he’s said that could have given Simon that impression. Sure, he may have told Clary once that he has a face sculpted by the gods, but surely she and Simon could tell he was joking. Otherwise, he comes up empty.

Simon has a self-deprecating, snarky sense of humor that Jace finds irresistibly funny. He finds himself stifling his laughter while Izzy lets hers ring out. Simon’s smiling again, sparing a glance at Jace, who quickly straightens his face. Doesn’t want Simon to think he’s laughing _at_ him.

Izzy gets along well with Clary too, but she spends most of the movie whispering commentary into Simon’s ear and throwing knowing looks in Jace’s direction. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to know; the ambiguity burns hot under his skin.

After the movie, Jace finds himself walking by Clary’s side, trailing behind as Simon and Izzy saunter ahead to the student center for a midnight snack. “Your sister and Simon are getting along well,” Clary comments.

“It looks like it,” Jace grouses. He looks at Clary, who is watching the two wistfully. He bumps his elbow into Clary’s side to get her attention. “Don’t worry, Simon’s virtue is safe,” he assures her. “Izzy’s just a little bit friendly.”

Clary laughs at that, sounding relieved.

They split up after their midnight snack, and Izzy insists on coming to crash at Jace’s dorm instead of walking all the way to her dorm room on the other end of campus. Grinning at Jace, she asks him, “So? How’d things go?”

“You were there. I think we all had fun,” Jace says. He’s unsure of what Izzy is trying to get at.

“I meant with _Clary_ , duh,” Izzy says. “Simon’s funny, but he was _exhausting_ to entertain all night so he wouldn’t interrupt you and Clary’s alone time. I’ve never known you to need a wing girl before. Is this a sign that Jace Lightwood is looking for something more?”

“It’s not like that,” Jace insists. “We’re just classmates. Friends, maybe.”

Izzy raises an eyebrow skeptically. “Then what’s with the Casual Date outfit?” she asks, gesturing at Jace’s clothes. He’s wearing fresh dark wash jeans and a soft heather gray sweater that Izzy always says emphasizes his shoulders in the right way. It’s his go-to outfit for a second date; he hadn’t even noticed when he was getting dressed before the movie.

Jace looks away, fighting the heat in his cheeks.

“If it’s not Clary, then… Oh,” Izzy says. She lays a hand on his arm. “You should have told me. I wouldn’t have spent all night stepping in on your man.”

“It’s not like that,” Jace says again. This time, his protest sounds hollow.

OCTOBER

After the movie night, Jace and Clary start hanging out regularly. Whenever Simon’s at one of his accounting study groups or at band practice with this girl he met at the vegan food co-op, Clary drops by Jace’s dorm room to hang out. She’s easy to talk to, and even when Jace doesn’t want to talk they can just sit side by side working on homework or art projects.

His initial interest in Clary died after the night at the tunnels, which is more than okay with Jace. Outside of Alec and Izzy, Clary is his only friend. He doesn’t want to mess that up.

That’s also the reason why he doesn’t tell her about his crush on Simon. First of all, it’s just embarrassing the way he freezes up whenever Simon is around. He’s pretty sure Simon thinks that Jace hates him, because Jace has never had a conversation with him and tries to avoid spending as much time around him as possible. He can’t help it though, and he’d rather have Simon assume _that_ than think Jace is an uncool dork who can’t string together a sentence.

Second of all, Clary is a shit talker and would troll the living hell out of him if she ever finds out. Her humor an adorable trait, and they spend many fun portrait sessions gossiping and making fun of each other lightly. Clary’s favorite target is the way almost every other girl in their class has tried to purr their way into Jace’s pants. Sure, he’s grabbed coffee with one or two of them, even brought one back to his room, but he’s not nearly the playboy Clary makes him out to be. He can only imagine how she’d tease him about having honest-to-god _feelings_ for someone.

But the main reason Jace doesn’t talk about his crush is that he is pretty sure Clary and Simon are on the edge of something more than friendship. They’ve probably been dancing around it for years. Clary tells Jace all about how Simon became her best friend in first grade, how Simon took her to senior prom after her shitty high school boyfriend dumped her the week before, and how Simon and Clary picked out their university together – where one goes, the other follows. It’s like something out of a romantic comedy, how every time Clary talks about what an amazing guy Simon is, she seems closer to realizing her feelings for him.

Jace might be projecting a little bit.

&

Simon found a bandmate first week of the quarter, and they quickly started playing all the open mics around campus. Clary drags Jace to all of their shows. He really isn’t into Simon’s type of music—the indie acoustic stuff that’s mostly covers of vintage pop songs—but he is into Simon, so he’ll take any excuse to stare at him for an hour without it being weird.

After Simon’s first show—an open mic night at the vegan student co-op—Simon bounds up to their table to give Clary a quick hug and a kiss to the temple. He greets Jace with some surprise in his eyes, but he genuinely smiles as he reaches out to clasp Jace’s hand in a friendly greeting. Jace remembers to take it this time. “Thanks for coming, guys. How did we sound up there? I think I played a little fast on that second song, and we really need to work on our harmonies, but it wasn’t that bad was it?”

“Not bad for covers of songs your grandma listens to,” Jace comments. He doesn’t know where it comes from, this instinct to be mean. It’s like his mouth has no filter when Simon’s around. He wants to take it back immediately, but Simon scowls at Jace before he can.

“If you don’t like it, don’t come next time,” Simon snaps, shoulders tensed until Clary is able to calm them down and change the direction of conversation.

Jace still comes to Simon’s shows after that, but Simon never asks his opinion again.

&

For Halloween, Magnus hosts a party at the club Pandemonium he promotes. Izzy and Jace make plans to meet up with Clary and Simon there. As tradition in their household, Jace lets Izzy pick out his Halloween costume. While neither Alec nor Jace particularly care what they dress up as, Izzy has always maintained that their choices reflect on her.

Alec gets off easy this year, because Magnus has already decided on their matching regency costumes, and they both look fabulous. On the other hand, Izzy forces Jace into a black vest over his white henley, and straps a plastic space gun holster around his leg.

“What the hell am I supposed to be? A space cowboy?” Jace complains as he looks at himself in the full-length mirror in Izzy’s dorm room.

Izzy looks up from her phone and whoever she’s texting to level an incredulous stare at Jace. “You’re kidding me.”

Jace glares at her. She’s gone with a classic this year, dressed in a black corset bodysuit and sheer vampire cloak, which is suspicious. Usually, she makes him coordinate with her, like last year when he was Captain America to her Black Widow.

“Seriously, Iz. Who am I?”

Izzy shakes her head disbelievingly, looking back down to furiously type out a message on her phone. “I've made you watch those movies how many times? You should  _know_ Han Solo by sight _.”_

Jace rolls his eyes. “This costume is dumb,” he tells Izzy.

Izzy smiles something unholy, patting Jace’s cheek as she walks by him. She says, “You’re going to change your mind soon enough.”

&

That night, Jace and Izzy are standing at the bar when he sees Simon walk into the party wearing a Jedi tunic with a lightsaber handle on his belt. Jace sees the moment that Simon spots Jace from across the room—the full force of Simon’s delighted smile makes Jace feel a little noxious.

He turns to Izzy quickly. “What the hell did you do?” he hisses at her. He can feel his face burning, his stomach roiling in anticipation of something about to go horribly wrong.

“I told you you’d change your mind about the costume,” Izzy sing-songs as she passes Jace a shot of tequila. “Just go talk to him, _bond_ with him. I’ve made you watch Star Wars at least six times, talk to him about the obvious homo-erotic implications of Han coming back and risking his life for Luke after knowing him for like, two days.”

Jace frowns at Izzy, who smiles wickedly and clinks her shot glass against his. Jace takes a shot to calm his nerves, then another. Izzy leaves him to go dance with someone. He takes a third shot, just for luck. When he finally steels himself to go talk to Simon, he looks up and can’t find the Simon anywhere.

Jace wanders the club for a while. It’s not that big a club, he can’t be that far. Jace realizes that three shots might have been a little too much; combined with his nerves, he’s started to bump into people left and right. In his defense, the place is crowded.

He asks everyone he runs into if they’ve seen Luke Skywalker. Most haven’t, and the few that do recognize the description can’t point him in a direction. At some point, Jace finds himself trying to shake off a scantily clad fairy—that’s when he finally sees Simon.

Simon looks good; his hair is styled for once, swept up to the side, and he’s probably wearing contacts, because he's glasses-free tonight. It's the first chance Jace has gotten to see the whole picture, and. Well. Jace thought Simon looked good even with his dumb hipster glasses.

Simon’s leaning casually against the wall, talking to Clary, who is dressed to match Simon in Leia’s skimpy slave bikini. She has a hand laid on his arm, and they’re laughing at something indistinct from where Jace stands frozen.

Jace knows he should make a beeline for the two of them, but he doesn’t want to cock block Simon and Clary, if that’s where this night is going.

“Hey, big guy,” the scantily clad fairy purrs at him when he stops trying to push her off his arm. “You wanna get out of here?”

Jace shakes head to clear his thoughts, and looks down at the girl. He puts on his lady killer grin. He does want to get out of here.

NOVEMBER

Izzy finds out that Clary and Simon are from Brooklyn too, so she offers to give them a lift home for Thanksgiving break. Izzy insists that Clary sit up front with her because “Sisters before Misters,” throwing a wink at Jace with a not-very-subtle glance in Simon’s direction. In that moment, Jace wants to strangle her.

Izzy’s little hatchback is barely big enough for all the Lightwood siblings on good days, and it feels that much more claustrophobic when Jace is sandwiched between Simon and Alec in the backseat. Alec is grumpy because Magnus can’t come home with them for Thanksgiving; Simon is grumpy because he’s sitting next to Jace.

The ride is the longest three hours of his life. Jace sits with his back ramrod straight the entire way home. He’s hyper-aware of the line of Simon’s leg pressed against his, can smell the spice of Simon’s body wash. At some point, Simon tries to make small talk, but Jace is focused too hard on not leaning into Simon’s warmth to pay attention to his words. He’s fairly certain that his answers are composed entirely of grunts. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Alec glance at him in concern.

Thankfully, Izzy is there to save the conversation, drawing Simon into a discussion of Thanksgiving traditions and how Simon does a Star Wars marathon with his sister every year. Izzy is secretly as much of a nerd about the kind of things as Simon, and bonds with Simon about forcing Jace to dress as Han Solo for Halloween without Jace even knowing who he was supposed to be. Simon howls with laughter, then Alec mutters something disparaging under his breath, which starts a brief, playful exchange of barbs. Throughout all of this, Jace can barely string three words together.

As soon as they drop both Simon and Clary off and Alec climbs over Jace to get at the passenger seat, Izzy turns to look at Jace with a mixture of concern, pity, and glee. “You’re pathetic,” she tells him in awe. “That was the most painful thing I’ve ever had to watch. Please tell me the next time I can be your wing girl.”

Jace buries his head in his hands.

&

A week later, Jace walks out of class and is surprised to come face to face with Simon. His heart rate immediately skyrockets, wondering why Simon is here.

“Hey,” Simon greets with a little smile and wave. “Is Clary still in there? We’re about to head out to lunch.”

“She’s, uh,” Jace starts. He curses inwardly when he stumbles over his words. “She’s still, uhm, talking to the teacher. About her project for finals.”

“Great,” Simon says, nodding his head.

A long silence follows.

“Okay, well, I’ll just—”

“Jace,” Simon cuts in before Jace can make his escape. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Yeah?” Jace adjusts the shoulder strap of his bag and crosses his arm. He’s trying to look as effortless as usual, but he’s not really feeling it today.

“Yeah,” Simon confirms. “Listen, I know we don’t get along well. When you first started hanging around I thought you were trying to hit on Clary.”

“I was,” Jace says automatically, but turns red as soon as he says it. “I mean, I’m not—I got over that months ago.”

Simon is staring at him. Oh god, why is Simon staring?

“Seriously, I feel nothing for Clary. I don’t like her at all. We’re just art soulmates,” Jace continues digging a hole. Simon is still staring. Can the earth just swallow him now, please?

“Anyway,” Simon says after a beat. “We don’t have to be friends or anything, but I was hoping for Clary’s sake we can get along a little bit better and not bicker or cold shoulder each other every time we see each other. Sound okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Jace croaks. They shake on it. Something in Jace’s chest flutters when Simon smiles happily, just before he hears Clary from behind him.

“Simon!” Clary exclaims, throwing her arms around Simon’s neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Ready for lunch?”

“Yeah, I’m starved,” Simon says, his smile gentling as he looks down at Clary. His smile doesn’t fade when he glances up at Jace. “Hey, you wanna come with us?”

“Nah,” Jace says, starting to walk away backward. “I’ve got a… thing. But have fun.” He turns and walks down the hall, willing his insides not to burst into flame.

DECEMBER

Simon’s bandmate Maureen won’t let Clary come to band practice, which she complains about endlessly. “Eric and Jordan always let me stay for band practice when we were in high school,” she’ll say. Or, “Maureen is a great girl and all, but why is she taking so much of his time?”

“You sound jealous,” Jace comments once when Clary stops to breathe in the middle of a rant about Simon’s ridiculous practice schedule.

Clary’s brow furrows, and she looks as if she has never considered that possibility before. “Maybe I am,” she says quietly.

Jace’s heart aches as he watches Clary turn the thought over in her mind. They’re sitting across the table from each other as Jace practices sketching Clary’s expressions. So far they’ve done neutral, pleased, and irritated. Jace mentally files this expression as “contemplative” as he starts filling in the details of Clary’s face. She stays silent for a long moment as Jace captures the fall of her hair, the downturned bow of her lips.

“If you’re feeling a certain way, maybe you should say something,” Jace says, focused on roughly shading in the shadows of her face.

“Maybe,” Clary sighs. Jace swallows hard around a lump in his throat and risks a glance up at Clary. Her face looks conflicted, but maybe a little determined. She doesn’t say much for the rest of class.

&

As one last de-stressor before finals, Clary suggests doing a Secret Santa gift exchange. They have a little party at her dorm suite to reveal gifts before they go hit the books.

Jace draws Clary’s name, which is lucky because she’s been complaining about her drying art markers for weeks now. It’s easy enough to buy her a couple staple colors with a coupon to help pay for the rest of the set.

Simon draws Jace’s name and gets him a sweatshirt with their school name that he clearly bought from the student store last minute. Jace knows he shouldn’t feel disappointed that the present isn’t more personal—they’re not really friends, and they’ve barely made their Thanksgiving truce—but he is.

“Sorry,” Simon tells him as he hands it over. “I couldn’t think of what to get you, so I figured you could use some school swag. I’ve never seen you wear any before.”

“It’s great,” Jace says, clutching it close to him. As much as he wishes Simon knew him well enough for a personal gift, he knows he’s going to be wearing this sweatshirt every day of winter break. Simon’s pleased smile is blinding.

Jace enjoys the rest of the party, except for a moment where he’s heading to the bathroom but has to pass by the door to Clary’s room to get there. He doesn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he can’t help it when he hears Simon’s voice.

“Do you even have to ask? I always come to Christmas dinner. I live for your mom’s Christmas pot roast,” he hears Simon saying.

“No, I mean—” Clary says. “I mean, do you want to come to dinner… as my date?”

A beat.

“Yes, of course, Clary. I'd be honored.”

Jace forgets where he was headed. All he can think of now is the pit that has suddenly opened in his stomach. He turns and walks away.


	2. Winter Quarter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From [this tumblr post by vvwolfgang](http://wolfgangkalaa.co.vu/post/161249382498/my-favorite-jimon-trope-is-jace-pining-hopelessly).
>
>> i need like 30k (maybe college au?) of jace watching simon from afar and pretending like he can’t stand him, having to see him and clary together and feeling his heart break everyday, and then feeling so terrible when they break up because he feels relieved and happy and clary is his friend, how can he be happy that she’s sad? (and hello, jace is so familiar with guilt complex and we know it).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm back! Sorry for leaving you all hanging, I didn't expect for this chapter to balloon up to 9305 words. That's more than twice the first chapter! I hope it's worth the wait. Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, favorited, and given me kudos. I appreciate it all!
> 
> About how their school works: I'm basing their college experience heavily off of mine, with a 3 term quarter system. Each quarter lasts 10 weeks + 1 week for finals; as a creative major who took pretty much all workshops my last year, I almost never had finals tests and only needed to turn in my work for critique, which I could turn in either early or from the safety of my own home courtesy of internet. That's how I'm basing Jace and Clary's schedules as art majors, if the logistics are weird at all. 
> 
> Another holdover from my college years is the fact that apparently everyone uses facebook and only facebook (not even instagram existed my frenshman year.)

JANUARY

Jace avoids Simon and Clary for the last week of term, then goes home to wallow for the three weeks before winter quarter starts. He eats a lot of ice cream and starts sketching a new art series to pass the time.

Jace makes it his New Year’s resolution to get over his crush on Simon. It shouldn’t be too hard. He just has to avoid him is all.

&

When they were signing up for winter classes, Clary convinced both Jace and Simon to sign up for the Graphic Novel Writing workshop with her, a fact that Jace completely forgot about until he walks into the classroom and sees Simon sitting with Clary at the back of the room.

Simon looks uncomfortable in his seat, tapping his fingers against his desk with one hand, loosely holding Clary’s free hand with the other. Clary is whispering reassuringly at him, leaning into Simon’s personal space like she belongs there. Jace’s heart stutters at the sight.

Clary spots Jace first, smiling and waving him over. Jace steels himself, plasters a smile on his face as he forces a saunter into his walk. He drops down in the desk in front of Clary, turning to give the two a grin. “Don’t you look cute together,” he says in greeting.

Simon bristles at Jace’s tone—he always takes things the wrong way—but seems to relax when Clary squeezes his hand gently.

“Thanks,” Simon says with a flash of his bright smile. There’s an awkward moment where Jace holds eye contact a little too long, before Simon clears his throat. “I’m a little thirsty. I’m going to grab something from the vending machine real quick, before the professor gets here. You want anything?”

Jace glances down at the iced coffee he’s still holding in his hand and back at Simon. “Nah, I’m good.”

“Right,” Simon says, sliding from his desk. “I’ll be right back.”

With Simon gone, Jace focuses his attention on Clary, who is smiling widely after Simon.

“Well, I guess congratulations are in order,” he says, to get her attention.

“I guess so,” Clary tells him with a grin. “I guess I have you to thank for the advice. We talked a lot over break and we decided to give it a shot. It’s worked out so far.”

Jace smiles, even though he feels like doing the exact opposite. “I’m happy for you. I really am.”

Clary beams. And he _is_ happy for them both. What kind of shitty friend is he, that he wishes they weren’t happy together?

&

The graphic novel class seems promising. The goal of the quarter is to go through the process of mocking up a pitch, a script, concept art, and the first five pages of a completed issue to (hypothetically) shop around to publishers. That’s a lot of work for a ten week quarter, but they can work in groups. So Jace teams up with Clary and Simon, and it sounds like fun to hang out with his best friend and his crush every day to work on something together, until he’s sitting outside Java Jones with Clary and Simon talking about the initial pitch.

They already have some kind of idea for the comic, one they’ve been talking about for years but never got around to. There doesn’t seem to be much room for more creative input when they’ve already thought so much about this world. It’s the story of two best friends who get drawn into the underground world of demon hunting, they tell him.

“One is the fast talking, genre-aware geek, like Xander from Buffy,” Simon explains, “and the other is a strong female demon ass-kicker. Like Buffy, from Buffy.”

“So basically, you two,” Jace says, unimpressed.

“No!” Simon protests, just as Clary says, “Yeah, of course.”

Simon looks at her incredulously as she shrugs. “I thought this was a self-insertion comic on purpose,” she says. She smiles sweetly at Simon, then glances at Jace. “You can be in it too. Maybe you, Izzy, and Alec are already bad-ass demon hunters who show us the ways of the Demon World.”

Clary says the last part in a dramatic tone, and waves her hands in a ridiculous gesture that gets a huff laughter out of Jace, but it bothers him that he doesn’t have a real say in the project right now. Everything is _ClaryandSimon_ together all the time, even in this.

“Well, I can tell when I’m not needed,” he tells them, pushing back his chair to leave.

“No Jace —”

“Jace—”

“It’s fine,” Jace cuts in. At Clary’s stricken face, he softens. He’s not _mad_ at them, just frustrated as hell, and he’s not sure where his issue with the project ends and his issue with their relationship begins. He tries again

“Look,” he tells them calmly, “You already know what you’re doing, you should probably write the pitch yourselves. I would be just in the way in that process.”

Clary looks torn, and Simon looks oddly put out. “But we _want_ you to be a part of the process,” he tells Jace. “Come on, sit down. Tell us what you were thinking of. We can work this out.”

Jace hesitates. They both look so earnest, and Jace doesn’t want to make either of them sad. He’s not sure he wants a front seat to the _ClaryandSimon_ show either, but in the end, he sits back down. They get to work.

&

In his free time, Jace throws himself into his art. He started working on a sketch series over winter break, when he was avoiding Clary’s calls, and now he sets up shop at Magnus and Alec’s apartment off campus, claiming their unused second bedroom as studio space.

He begins to spend his weekends working late into the night, painting series of fantasy landscapes – wide dark halls of the Mountain King's underground castle, or lonely forests of a misty alien planet, or the rolling countryside offset by the silhouette of a city made of glass on the horizon. It’s therapeutic.

One Saturday evening, Magnus pokes his head in to invite Jace to dinner as Jace is painting in details of the glass skyline of his latest painting. "My poor biscuit," Magnus says when he sees the multiple easels set up around the room. The paintings are in various stages of completion, and Jace just might look a little crazy with paint all over his hands and the school sweatshirt he’s wearing, but he doesn't like the tone in Magnus's voice.

"I'm fine," he bites out. He narrows all his focus on the line of sunlight reflecting off the highest tower. He's imagining an unseen figure exiled there, trapped in a glass prison on top of it all. Maybe the figure can't go out in the sunlight, or something, he’s trapped.

"Darling, these paintings speak of such loneliness," Magnus says. “Empty castles, quiet forests, cities in the distance...”

"I said _I'm fine,”_ Jace snaps, whirling to glare at Magnus.

Magnus frowns, lifts one black polished finger up in protest. "Now, I'm not going to get upset at that attitude because I know you don't mean it. But for the love of God, handle your shit, Jace Lightwood. Alexander and I are going to get dinner. We'll bring home leftovers."

He closes the door behind him, leaving Jace to fume. What does Magnus know about art anyway?

&

Besides the graphic novel class, Jace doesn’t have any classes with either of them. Simon’s still an accounting major, and Clary’s taking an honor’s seminar that takes up most of her free time. They schedule time to work together on their graphic novel twice a week at Java Jones, but otherwise Jace tries to give the pair space. He makes the mistake, one time, of dropping by Clary’s dorm room unannounced, only to catch the pair making out, Clary straddling a shirtless Simon.

From then on, he limits himself from spending time at Clary’s dorm too—it’s hard to act normal around Clary in her room when all he can think about is her boyfriend shirtless in the same place.

It’s better when they’re working. At their Java Jones sessions, Simon and Clary are good about taking Jace’s input. Simon is in charge of writing the script and direction, and Jace and Clary work on the settings and character designs. As always, his and Clary’s ideas seem to flow together naturally, and their art styles complement each other to put together into some fascinating and horrible looking for the monsters for their characters to fight.

The human character design isn’t too hard; Jace just bases them off of themselves and their friends. Simon laughs when he sees his character.

“I’m nowhere near that pretty looking,” he grins as he leans over Jace’s shoulder to watch him draw.

Jace rolls his eyes, like he does so often around Simon. “You need a new pair of glasses,” he says without thinking, in the same sardonic tone he would tell Simon that his horrid shirts hurt his eyeballs.

Simon blinks at that, and suddenly smiles, his lips quirking at the edges. “You think I’m pretty?” he says.

Jace’s cheeks flush. “No, that is _not_ what I said.”

But Simon is grinning goofily now. “Hey Clary, did you hear that?” he asks Clary, who is sitting across the table from them with her own sketch book. She looks up curiously. “Jace thinks I’m pretty!”

“Congrats,” Clary says with a fond smile.

Jace both loves and hates these work sessions. He really needs to get over this thing.

FEBRUARY

Izzy has been quiet about Jace’s love life ever since she found out about Simon and Clary. He’s grateful she has at least that much tact. She even lets him get away with spending his weekends locked up in Magnus and Alec’s second bedroom all of January, but a week and a half into February, Izzy bursts into Jace’s room just as he’s about to head off campus.

“No, you are not going to Magnus’s apartment again,” Izzy says forcefully, herding Jace back into his room. “You are getting dressed, and we are going out. You haven’t been out and about forever; let’s get you back to your old self.”

It isn’t until Izzy mentions it that Jace realizes that he hasn’t even tried to get laid since October. His last hookup was that girl from the Pandemonium Halloween club party, who had left nothing but fairy glitter all over his sheets and the taste of regret on his tongue. Jace can’t even remember if he’d had fun.

Izzy’s right though. He probably needs to just get out there and get down. That should help get him over these stupid feelings.

&

They end up at Pandemonium again—because free cover for life, thanks Magnus—scoping out the scene.

“Just do your handsome brooding thing,” Izzy tells him, yelling over the club music to be heard. She passes him a tequila shot to throw back together. “They’ll come flocking in no time. I’m off to dance. Text me if you need me,” Izzy says, and pats Jace’s shoulder reassuringly. She leaves him to fend for himself.

He knows it’s a first world problem that he can just look at girls and they’d come running, but now no one really interests him. The first two women that come talk to him bore him to tears within thirty seconds, and he scowls at a third until she huffs and walks away.

He’s pretty much ready to give up on the night when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around to see a guy grinning at him with some recognition. “Han, right?” the guy asks, gesturing wildly with his drink in hand. He’s wearing a button-down shirt, but this close Jace can see that underneath is a T-shirt with an Avenger’s logo peeking from under the buttons of his shirt.

“Do I know you?” Jace asks, trying to place this guy’s face. He doesn’t recognize the other man’s upturned nose or the beauty marks on his cheek.

“Oh, no, you don’t! But I was here at Halloween; _you_ were dressed as Han Solo, going around looking for your Luke Skywalker,” the guy explains, flashing Jace a wink. “Everyone kept talking about the sexy Han with the neck tattoo after that. Did you ever find the guy you were looking for?”

Jace shrugs nonchalantly. There’s something about this guy that seems familiar, that reminds him of Simon. They look nothing alike; where Simon is short and dark haired, this guy is nearly Jace’s height with lighter hair and pale skin. But how he’s dressed and the way talks fast and moves his hands is enough for Jace to consider buying him a drink. “You could be my Luke Skywalker tonight,” he says, turning on his charm.

The guy leans into Jace’s space, his grin mischievous. “I’m okay with that,” he says.

&

His name is Stiles. He’s from California, studying pre-law and accounting because both look great to the FBI, and is very into Star Wars. Jace finds all this out in between three rounds of sex and not leaving his bedroom until 5 PM the next day. Thankfully, Jace’s roommate is out of town, but he does have to restock Raj’s mini-fridge supply of Dr. Pepper before he gets back.

Stiles is borderline offended when Jace tells him that he barely paid attention to the Star Wars, and pretty much had no idea what he was dressed as the night of the Halloween party.

“If I’d known that you were a Force-denying heathen, I would never have come home with you,” Stiles tells him.

Jace raises an eyebrow at that. He props himself on his elbow and leans over Stiles watching the way the other guy traces the plane of his collarbone with his darkened eyes. “You sure about that?” he asks.

That leads to round number four.

Besides Star Wars, they talk about a bunch of nerd shows and movies that Jace hasn’t seen so that Stiles can make fun of him for being out-of-date with pop culture. It’s actually a lot of fun. Stiles isn’t nearly as endearing as Simon—he has a mean edge to his wit that Simon could never pull off—but he pretty much confirms that Jace _definitely_ has a type when it comes to men.

They also talk about Jace and the art that he’s working on. He even shows Stiles some of the work he’s done for the graphic novel, swiping through pictures he took on his phone during his and Clary’s last art session. Stiles is definitely impressed by the artwork, more by Clary’s monster designs than any of the character work that Jace has done, but it still makes him proud.

Stiles swipes back one more photo, landing on a work-in-progress snapshot of Jace’s landscape painting of an empty forest with the moon high in the sky. The image seems to entrance him as much as the actual painting had entranced Magnus the time he entered the Jace’s makeshift studio. Stiles taps to zoom in, scrutinizing the brushstrokes.

“That one’s kind of personal,” Jace says awkwardly, reaching out for Stiles to hand back his phone.

“Whatever happened to your Luke Skywalker anyway?” Stiles asks suddenly, head snapping up to narrow his eyes at Jace. He’s got a calculating look in his eye, turning over some facts and figures in his head. “Like, you obviously liked him enough to dress up as a movie character you don’t even know. And then there’s this,” he says, waving Jace’s phone like a court exhibition, “Which is a WIP taken only a few days ago, so it’s pretty recent, right?”

“Why is everyone suddenly an expert on my feelings after seeing one lousy painting?” Jace snarls, snatching his phone from Stiles. Stiles eyes narrow icely, and Jace feels bad. “Sorry,” he apologizes, running a hand through his hair. “Sorry. I mean, it’s just that... it was never like _that_ , you know? I wanted to impress him, but then there was this girl...” Jace sighs in frustration. “And now he’s dating her. They’re so cute together, and I never had a chance.”

Stiles smiles wryly, setting a friendly hand on Jace’s shoulder. “It’s always the straight ones, isn’t it,” he says, his tone purposefully light. He playfully chucks Jace’s shoulder with a curled fist. “Don’t worry champ, there’s someone out there for you.”

Jace shoves him for that cliché, laughing like he hasn’t in a long time.

&

He’s late for Simon’s set that night. He contemplates not even going, but once Stiles leaves there’s no reason for him to stay cooped up in his room. He even thinks about heading back to Magnus’s place to paint, but Stiles’ comments about the forest painting have made him feel self-conscious. So when Clary texts him asking if he’s dropping by to see Rock Solid Panda at the student center, he really has no excuse.

Also, he misses Clary. Since before winter break, they haven’t spent any time together outside of their graphic novel class or related work sessions at Java Jones. It’ll be nice to spend some time with Clary without worrying about work or having to interact with Simon, since he’ll be on stage.

Except that when he gets there, Clary is sitting at a table alone with a pinched expression on her face. It seems out of place; usually Clary is all adoring smiles aimed in Simon’s direction. Tonight, she only smiles wanly when Jace gets there.

“Is everything alright?” Jace asks her, pulling her into a greeting hug.

“Everything’s fine,” Clary assures him. But Jace just feels that something is off, and something is off with the band too. Maureen and Simon are usually impeccable, but tonight their harmonies are off and their key changes are syncopated in an ugly way.

Jace doesn’t miss the way that Simon avoids looking in their direction.

After the show, Simon hops down and pads over to them, greeting Jace with a nod and dropping a distracted kiss on Clary’s forehead.

“Hey, I’m really sorry,” he says. “I know you wanted to hang, but Maureen called a band meeting after our set. I’ll call you later?”

“Yeah,” Clary says, smiling that same sad smile she greeted Jace with before.

“Thank you, you’re the best,” Simon says, oblivious. He kisses her again and takes off quickly.

Clary sighs and turns to Jace. “Whelp, there goes my Saturday night plans. What are you up to?”

Jace hesitates before he answers. He knows if he goes with Clary now, they’ll end up talking about her relationship, and he does not want to talk about Simon with her. But seeing the way Clary looks at him hopefully, he can’t do anything but nod.

&

They go for dinner at one of the nicer campus dining halls. It’s quiet Saturday night, because everyone’s trying to go off campus to drink or hang out, and it feels private, like they’re the only ones in the room.

“I just feel so insecure sometimes,” Clary admits, pushing food around her plate. “Like, I know that Simon would never ever cheat on me, but sometimes I feel like. What if he’s just with me because I asked him, and he just didn’t want to say no? And then I wonder, what if I just asked him because I thought I was losing my best friend?”

Jace hums. His heart aches for her, but he can’t deny that there’s a sliver of hope that makes itself known in reaction to her words.

“Maybe it’s just homework stress,” Jace suggests. “You’re working on your thesis portfolio, he’s got all his accounting stuff, our graphic novel stuff, and on top of that he’s still trying to make the band work. When was the last time you went on a date?”

Clary frowns as she thinks. Then looks up at Jace, distressed. “Is it bad that I can’t think of one?” she asks, her voice taking on a hint of desperation. “We kind of just... fell into each other. We hang out like we always have, except now sometimes there’s kissing involved. We’ve never actually gotten dressed up and gone out anywhere.”

That’s a shame. Jace knows that, if given the chance, he’d take Simon out as often as humanly possible. He’d take him to see those dumb comic book movies at midnight, he’d go with him to obscure indie-pop music festivals, he’d even go to New York Comic Con and do matching cosplay with Simon if he wanted.

But that’s not what he’s here for, Jace has to remind himself, and feels guilty as all hell for sitting here fantasizing about dating his best friend’s boyfriend when she’s spilling her heart out to him.

So he steels himself, schools his emotions, and advises Clary. “Don’t forget to make time for your relationship,” he says. “You’ve got something good going on with Simon. You’ve got to hold on to that.”

“Yeah,” Clary says, nodding quickly. She looks at him, eyes shining with building tears. “Yeah,” she says, as if she’s still convincing herself. “I’ll try.”

&

Jace has a friend request on Facebook from Stiles when he gets home. A little bit curious, Jace adds him back and sees a message Stiles left.

_Hey dude! I had fun meeting you last night. Before you freak out—I’m not looking for anything more! I just figured you could use a friend, hit me up any time if you want to chill. :)_

Jace scoffs at the message. He sends back:

_You sound so west coast._

_West Coast, Best Coast. :)_

_What makes you think that I could use a friend?_

_Dude, you have like 54 Facebook friends. That means you probably interact with like, 5 of those people on a regular basis. You need more friends, bro._

Jace counts on his fingers; Stiles is eeriely right.

 _Okay, fine,_ he acquiesces. _But I’m not watching Star Wars for you._

_Don’t you want to brush up on your sw trivia for your Luke?? ;p_

Jace hates how predictable he’s become.

&

Simon's band breaks up. He announces it the next morning when the three of them convene at Java Jones for their Sunday meet up to work on their graphic novel.

"It's for the best," Simon says, shrugging nonchalantly. "We barely get in any practice between both our study schedules, and on top of that I've been spending all my free time working on this comic stuff. I have _so many ideas_ for this thing, it's insane. It’s like my creativity is on fire. Maybe after the quarter is over, we can launch it as a web comic or something? If you're down, that is. So I was thinking..."

He continues rambling, changing the topic seamlessly without letting either Jace or Clary get a word in edgewise. Simon looks perfectly content with the dissolution of his band, but Clary seems uncomfortable and acts a bit off for the rest of the week.

&

It gets a little tense sometimes, when Clary uses Jace as a buffer. She begins withdrawing from the project, instead letting Jace and Simon do most of the talking when they’re together. Jace wonders what she does when he isn’t around to use as a go-between.

The positive side is that forced interaction and prolonged exposure to Simon seems to have cured him of his Simon related nerves. They’re comfortable now, friendly even. He wouldn’t say friends—they don’t talk about anything besides the graphic novel—but Simon doesn’t look at Jace wearily anymore, like he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sometimes Jace still gets butterflies when Simon smiles, but he learns to deal.

&

A couple days before Valentine’s Day, Jace corners Simon outside of class after Clary’s run off to her honors seminar. He’s not one to meddle in other people’s relationships—he’s not Izzy after all—but he’s overly invested in seeing Clary and Simon happy together. As much seeing them together hurts, he wants them to succeed. If anyone deserves a Disney romance, it’s Simon and Clary.

So he corners Simon and asks him, “What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?”

“Uh—What? Why do you want to know?” Simon looks bewildered, like his whole world has been thrown of balance and he can’t find which way is up.

Jace rolls his eyes. He can’t be this dense. “ _Clary._ Where are you taking her? You better be doing some fine dining shit or something, if you want to keep her.”

Simon’s eyes go comically wide, then his expression settles into something pinched and pained. “Oh, I don’t know. We usually spend Valentines together, just binge watch rom-coms or something. Of course, we were both single before, so...”

Jace stops Simon, raising two fingers to face level to hush him. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Just get dressed up, take her somewhere nice. Text Izzy, ask her to help you find the best date restaurant for Clary.”

Simon’s looking at him oddly again. “Why do you care so much? I mean, thanks, but. You really don’t have to be giving me dating advice.”

“With that face? You need all the help you can get,” Jace tells him, trying to defuse the _moment_ happening between with humor.

Simon smiles uncertainly at Jace, the twitch of his lips not matching his eyes. “Thanks, I guess. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

&

Stiles has been messaging Jace on Facebook Messenger about every other day, striking up a conversation to complain about classes or the lack of good Mexican food in town or about how cute this one guy in his study group is.

They haven’t met in person since their one night stand—their schedules conflict—until Stiles invites Jace over for commiseration drinks on Valentine’s Day. It’s a Friday night; Alec, Izzy, and of course Clary and Simon all have dates, leaving Jace to wallow in his singleness until Stiles invites him to wallow together.

“Luke’s on a Valentine date?” Stiles asks as he cracks open a beer and hands it to Jace.  They sprawl over separate ends of Stiles’ couch, Star Wars playing on low volume on the TV in front of them. They’re both looking at the screen, but neither of them are really watching the movie.

“Yeah,” Jace sighs as he takes a swig from his bottle. “I can’t even complain about it, because I actually pushed him into it.”

Stiles tsks. “I’ve been there before. Unrequited love sucks,” he says. “I feel it's my duty to help all the unrequiteds in the world. What worked for me was to actually become friends with her and realize we were better as friends.”

“Thanks, I’ll try that,” Jace deadpans.

“You laugh, but I swear to god it’s the best way to get over your feelings,” Stiles tells him. “And who knows, maybe once he gets to know you better, he’ll like you back.”

“I’m not trying to be friends with him to get into his pants,” Jace says sharply, looking over at Stiles.

“No! I mean, you’ll at least be friends. And if he’s really a good person, then that’s worth it on its own accord,” Stiles says earnestly. He’s looking back at Jace now, that determined look in his eyes that says that Stiles isn’t going to let this conversation go until Jace agrees to his terms.

“Fine,” he tells Stiles. “I’ll try it for real. But only if you promise you’ll make a move on Study Group guy.”

“Deal,” Stiles says, “I’ll ask him out after our midterms are over.  You better be on your way to friends with Luke by then.” Stiles Sticks his arm out to shake Jace’s hand. Jace just looks at it and scoffs. Stiles blusters in mock indignation when Jace refuses to shake on it.

&

Then, a few days after Valentine’s Day, Clary calls late at night and asks to come over.

“We broke up,” she says as soon as Jace opens his door. She looks fragile and small in an oversized sweater and her mascara clumping with dried tears.

Jace wraps his arms around her, wraps her in a close hug.

&

They both skip their classes the next day and stay in Jace’s room watching romantic comedies on Netflix and eating ice cream. Izzy even joins them, the three of them curling together in one big puppy pile.

Jace can’t help but wonder who is there for Simon.

When he checks his phone, he sees he has a couple missed texts from Simon.

_Can you do me a favor?_

_Just make sure she’s okay_

Jace’s heart breaks a little bit. He texts back, _Of course, Simon_

&

After a day of moping around in Jace’s room, Clary seems over the initial shock of her breakup.

“I mean,” she says, dry-eyed now, like she’s used up all her tears. “I mean, I saw it coming. I think we both knew that we weren’t really meant for each other. It was just... it was just really confusing, because I was so jealous of Simon’s attention, and then our parents of course were always asking when we were going to get together, and he’s just so great I didn’t see why we shouldn’t just try it.”

Jace rubs Clary’s back as she’s talking, tries not to feel guilty for feeling so relieved that this whole thing is over.

“But it was all wrong and we both knew it, and we tried and tried and now... now I’m so scared I’ve lost the best friend I’ll ever have,” Clary whimpers.

“Hey, hey,” Izzy says gently, taking over as the Clary whisperer. She wraps her arms around Clary’s shoulders and rocks with her. “Easy there. Don’t beat yourself up over it. You’ve been best friends for fourteen years, through thick and thin. There’s nothing you can’t overcome.”

“He’s going to hate me,” Clary sniffs.

Jace thinks about the text Simon sent him earlier, the first text Simon has ever sent him since they exchanged numbers at the beginning of the quarter.

“He could never hate you,” he tells her. “It will be okay.”

&

Jace shows up to Java Jones Thursday afternoon for their work session a few days later, but Clary isn't there. There's just Simon, scribbling in his notebook with headphones in his ear. There's a French press sitting in front of him with two cups in front of it.

Jace sits down and pours himself a coffee and waits until Simon glances up. The corners of Simon’s mouth lift when he sees Jace there.

"Hey you," Simon says. Jace has to tamp down on the feeling that small bit of familiarity gives him. "So Clary might've told you, we decided to take a break from being around each other. I got the comic in the divorce."

He says this all lightly, but the joke falls flat on its face. It is just strange, Jace thinks, for Simon to willingly spend time with Jace one-on-one when all their previous interactions were due to Clary. Simon’s involvement with the project is pretty much done by now; he could just email Jace and Clary the storyboard and script for them to finish the artwork in the remaining few weeks of the quarter.

But the fact is that Simon is willing to spend this time with Jace, walking him through his work on the project. They do a round table reading of the script, just the two of them, and Jace can't help but feel charmed whenever Simon laughs at his own jokes.

&

At their Sunday work session, Simon shows Jace his storyboard thumbnails. They’re pretty funny—Simon's drawing leaves a lot to be desired. Every character has a circle for a head and a body with tubular arms and torso. The demons are represented by misshapen blobs that Simon has resorted to labeling every time.

Still, the story board is actually very good. The panel layout flows well, and Simon has a numbered list of written descriptions of how the action is placed, the shot angles described like a professional story board. It’s really helpful, with the written instructions, the blobs on the drawn panels help him see what Simon is going for. Simon has spent a lot of time on this, and it shows.

Jace says as much.

"Thanks," Simon says, sounding genuinely surprised for the compliment. "All the comic book reading I've done really helped me out doing this."

Jace shakes his head. "No, really. You have a natural talent for seeing the dynamic shots. Not everyone can be a fan of something and then do that thing well. Look at Izzy; she's a foodie, but she cannot be trusted in the kitchen. "

Simon barks in laughter, beams at the compliment.

“Listen,” Simon says, his tone changing to something serious and careful. “Thank you for taking care of Clary. I know she’s taken it hard.”

“Of course I’m there for her,” Jace says. He looks at Simon, who is ducking his head down dourly. Jace reaches out and carefully lays hand on Simon’s shoulder. “But what about you? Do you have anyone?”

Simon gives a half shrug. Jace can feel his muscles move under his hand, and Jace has to swallow the confession on the tip of his tongue. “I’ve got some friends I can count on,” Simon says, “I’m doing okay. I’m handling. I hope we can get back to the way we were sooner, rather than later.”

“You’ve been best friends for fourteen years, through thick and thin,” Jace says to him, the same thing Izzy had told Clary. “I’m sure you can overcome anything.”

MARCH

The next couple of weeks are strange. Clary is MIA, skipping their graphic novel workshops and work sessions citing her midterm portfolio review for her honors seminar as a reason. This leaves Jace and Simon to work through the script and collaboration at their twice weekly work sessions. They’re almost finished though, ahead of schedule. All that’s left is for Jace to finish drawing the pages and ink in the lines. After they worked out the kinks with the storyboard, he tells Simon it’s fine if he doesn’t want to keep meeting—he knows Simon has two accounting midterms coming up, Simon’s been venting plenty about studying for the tests—but Simon tells him that of course they’re going to keep meeting.

 

“Working on this comic has been the only thing keeping me sane,” Simon explains. “These work sessions are the highlight of my week. If anything, I’ll just study here while you draw, keep you company.”

“Okay,” Jace says, marveling at the realization that their relationship has changed. It feels significant, but Simon just grins at Jace as he packs his things to head off to his midterm review session. Like it’s something casual, normal for the two of them.

Jace has been into Simon since they met, since the first time he flashed his brilliant smile in Jaces direction. He liked that smile, the cut of Simon's cheekbones, the way he spoke and moved. Then he'd seen Simon move and heard him speak, and found him endearing. And he's heard about Simon from Clary how he was sweet and loyal, neurotic but courageous when it came down to it, and he had been charmed by the stories.

He had never thought that he’d get to this point, where they’re something like friends.

&

The Thursday two weeks after The Breakup, Simon is done with midterms. He has a brief reprieve—an entire weekend free from studying before he needs to buckle down for finals, most accounting students spend the entire weekend getting wasted—but he still shows up to Java Jones to hang out with Jace. As always, they sit on the outdoor patio in the afternoon sunshine. Simon spends the whole time sitting in his chair backwards, leaning over Jace’s shoulder to watch as Jace inks in the lines of each panel.

Simon seems content to sit still and lean a little too close into Jace’s space. Jace has never known Simon to be patient about anything.  Simon’s uncharacteristic stillness (and his proximity) is extremely distracting. It’s hard to focus when he can smell the scent of Simon’s body wash wafting in his direction anytime the breeze picks up.

When Jace can’t take it anymore, he closes his sketch book and starts putting away his pens.

“What, you’re finished already?” Simon asks, surprised. “Or am I just making you uncomfortable? I can stop staring, you know. Just say the word”

“No, it’s fine. I just can’t concentrate right now,” Jace says. He looks to Simon to see the other guy looking sad, like Jace is abandoning him. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“It’s just…” Simon sighs deeply. “It’s just, I don’t know what to do with myself. Clary and I haven’t talked in _weeks._ That’s longer than we’ve ever not talked since we’ve met. And I’m just, lonely, I guess. I mean, I get if you think I’m annoying, I’ll just leave you alone—”

“You’re not annoying,” Jace tells him quickly. Then, before he loses his nerve—“Let’s hang out,” he suggests, the words feeling stiff as they come out of his mouth. He can’t believe he’s saying this now—he can’t believe he’s _nervous_ about saying this out loud.

Simon brightens visibily.  “Sure. What do you wanna do?”

Jace smiles back at Simon.  “I have an idea. Just trust me.”

&

Simon’s oddly quiet as they make their trek down to the south side of campus where the graffiti tunnel can be found.  Jace notices, but he lets the quiet sit between them. They walk side by side, close enough that they bump elbows every so often. It feels intimate.

When Simon realizes where they are, he huffs a little in laughter. “Feeling sentimental?” he grins, wagging his eyebrows in an exaggerated manner.  “This is where we first met, wasn’t it?”

“Where you first compared me to a hot Hannibal Lecter, yeah,” Jace says.  He means it to be a joke, but Simon flushes and can’t meet his eyes.

“You heard that, huh?” Simon says softly.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal,” Jace tells him, floundering in how to make Simon feel better. “It was funny. You’re pretty funny. I enjoy your company.”

Simon looks at him skeptically. “You don’t understand half the things I say or the references I make,” he says.

Jace shrugs, willing his burning cheeks not to give him away.

Simon’s looking critically at him now, like he’s seeing Jace for the first time. “You’re not really a dick, are you?”

“Did you just call me a dick?” Jace asks incredulously.

“I mean, at first I thought you were. You didn’t even shake my _hand_ when we met. You barely talked to me, and when you did you were all dickish about it too,” Simon continues, as if Jace hadn’t spoken. “But… you’re actually pretty sweet. Like, you got Clary the best Secret Santa gift you could get, and you even gave me dating tips when you really didn’t need to. And on top of that—you have like, 5 people you talk to on a regular basis, and two of them are your siblings. One of them is your brother’s boyfriend. Point is—you’re actually really socially awkward, aren’t you?”

“I don’t need to be psychoanalyzed,” Jace grumbles. He stomps ahead.

Simon laughs loudly at that, clapping his hands in mirth. It’s not that funny.

Jace smiles though.

Eventually they stand in the enclosed tunnel of the graffiti hall side by side. It feels like this could be a date, in the same way the first time he’d asked Clary here was supposed to be a date—somewhere in that limbo of plausible deniability.

They use their phone flashlights again to find the art they’d made just six months before.  The runic designs that Clary and Jace had spray painted along the waterline had been smoothed out by the winter rains and sprayed over in some places for another student’s art.

Simon is able to find his contribution though, laughing with delighted surprise when he finds the words _Simon + Clary BFF Forever_ sandwiched between two over-the-top graffiti artist tags.

“Take a picture,” Jace suggests.  “That way, it’ll keep.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Simon says, snapping a shot of the little graffiti. He looks at the shot after, hesitates for a long moment with his finger hovering over the send button.

“You should send it to her,” Jace encourages softly. Simon lifts his head, and their eyes meet. Those dark eyes search for something in Jace’s, and Jace wonders what he’s looking for.

Siimon does hit the send button eventually, and gives Jace a watery smile. “Thanks,” he says to Jace. “I needed that push.”

&

Jace has no Friday classes, so when Magnus calls to tell him to clear his painting supplies out of the spare bedroom the day after going to the graffiti tunnels with Simon, he decides he might as well pop over and do it now instead of waiting for next week when he leaves town for Spring Break.

Clary comes with, and she sees Jace’s makeshift studio for the first time.  It makes him feel exposed, the way Clary looks around the room.  Her eyes linger on the school sweater that Jace has been using as his painting smock since Simon gave it to him for Secret Santa—hey, Magnus keeps his apartment ridiculously cold—and she looks at each of his landscape paintings like she’s about to give a workshop critique on them.

He’s worried that she’s about to psychoanalyze him, the way that Magnus and Stiles had when they saw the paintings, but all she says is, “These are really good. You should submit them as a series to the undergraduate show case next quarter.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “It’s not like I did them for a class. These are… personal. I don’t feel like they’re even done.”

“Is any painting ever done?” Clary asks, and Jace laughs because that’s an answer they both know is _never._ “Seriously though. What would you change about them, if you could?”

Jace thinks about it carefully, then nods at the forest scene. “I think that one should be more of an afternoon scene, sunlight filtering in through the leaves. Something sunny, warm, maybe something content.”

Clary looks at the painting and cocks her head, no doubt imagining what the scene would look like that way.  “We can do that.  Mix some yellows, greens and a little of that oak brown in, and we’re in business. What would really be cool is if you left half the canvas in the dark, then the moonlight turns into sunshine on this side. You wanna?”

Jace really likes the idea, and the two of them spend the afternoon mixing paints and adding sunshine to the lonely forest.

“This is my way of saying thanks, by the way,” Clary tells him as she helps mix the paint.

“For what?” Jace asks.

“For everything. Taking care of me right after, taking care of Simon these last couple weeks.” Clary smiles softly, looking at the paint instead of at Jace.  “We made up last night. He told me you made him realize that we could get over this whole thing,” she says. “You and Izzy were right about us, there’s nothing we can’t overcome.”

When Magnus finds them making a mess in the spare bedroom, getting paint all over each other and the crusty newspapers Jace has left on the ground for weeks, he threatens to kick them out and throw the easels off the balcony. It’s a mostly empty threat though, and Jace doesn’t miss the way Magnus smiles when he sees that Jace is laughing and painting in bright sunshine.

&

Clary twists Jace’s arm into submitting his paintings for consideration for the undergraduate show case. He snaps pictures on his cellphone to forward as email attachments to the department chair.

He sends the forest painting to Stiles too.

 _Things going well with Luke, I take it,_ Stiles replies.

 _Not everything is about him,_ Jace responds immediately.  Then: _But yeah. I think we’re friends now, we actually hung out one-on-one, for once._

 _One on one? Saucy,_ Stiles messages back. Jace has to roll his eyes; Stiles can and will turn anything into an innuendo.

 _I filled my end of the pact,_ Jace tells him. _What about yours?_

 _Oh! Study Group Guy? I asked him out, we’re hanging out this weekend at my friend’s kickback,_ Stiles said. _Something low key._ _Should be fun._

 _Good luck,_ Jace tells him. Well, if he’s not getting the guy, at least someone is.

&

Sunday Java Jones session is pretty low key. They have one week left of the quarter, then finals week. As an art student, all Jace has are workshop write-ups and projects that are all due by the end of the regular term, and he’s almost done with all of them. Clary is off working on her honors thesis, since she’s meeting with her advisor this week, so it’s just Jace and Simon again. Simon is trying to study, but failing miserably at it.  Possibly because he’s wearing sunglasses and groaning about the gnarly hangover he’s gotten from partying with his accounting classmates the last two days. He only starts to look human again after three cups from the French press. Jace has to laugh.

“Shut up,” Simon huffs.  “I’m just practicing for my future career choice, thank you very much.”

They lapse into a comfortable silence. It still amazes Jace that he's gotten to this point with Simon, when only a couple months ago he was avoiding Simon alone at all costs.

They’ve been working for a while, Simon on reviewing his flash cards and Jace on refining the line work for the comic, when Simon breaks the silence.

"Jace, can I be open with you about something?"

Jace looks up at him; the other guy is nervous, tapping his fingers on his accounting textbook and looking at Jace straight in the face like he’s afraid he to look anywhere else without losing his nerve. "You can tell me anything, Simon," he says.

Simon bites his lip, worries at it. Then says, "I, um. I don't like labels or anything, but you know. If you had to label me, I'm bi. Or pan. Or whatever. I like girls, but I like guys too."

Jace's brain has stopped in its tracks, why is Simon telling him this? But Simon keeps plugging on, looking anywhere but Jace now.

"And I guess the reason I'm telling you this is I need some advice. Usually I'd go to Clary for this but we just made up after not talking for _weeks,_ which is the longest we've ever NOT talked, you know? And I mean—"

"Simon, get to the point." Jace’s heart is beating in his throat now, but he hopes he knows where this is going.

"Well, there's the guy," Simon says hesitantly, glancing up at Jace from under his long lashes. "I've known him for a while, but we started getting closer this term for a class project and stuff. I figure you're popular right? You'd know about reading signs."

Jace nods mutely. He thinks he’s dreaming right now. A guy Simon has known for a while? A guy who he's gotten to know from a class project? He can't possibly be talking about anyone other than Jace.

Simon keeps babbling, looking down at his hands tapping on the table. Occasionally he glances up quickly, shyly, to gauge Jace's reaction.

"And he invited me somewhere last week, and it felt like—is this a date? Is this not a date? And then he doesn't mention too much about it for a few days afterward, I find myself spinning and—"

Jace grins in spite of himself, blooming with hope across his face.

"Hey," he says gently. The single word gets Simon's attention. Simon looks up, he looks a little disbelieving. That makes two of them. Jace says, "It sounds like he's pretty into you. Just go for it."

Simon breaks out into a grin. "Thanks, Jace. I gotta run, accounting group starts in a few. I'll text you later?"

"Yeah, of course," Jace says. He feels a little dizzy as Simon runs out.

For the rest of the day he can't think of anything else, just turns the conversation over in his head. He's spinning, he knows it, over-thinking every shy smile, every glance. Clearly their conversation was thinly veiled flirtation, right? In that last line, Jace left the ball in Simon's court. He's sure that any moment now, Simon is a about to text him, to ask him out. It has to be.

But when Simon texts later, there is no mention of dates or their conversation earlier. Instead, he's texting to ask about how the workshop session is going to go in their graphic novels class on Monday.

Maybe Simon just needs some time to process. Jace can wait.

&

Jace is on tenterhooks all week, wondering if and when Simon is going to ask him out. He seems normal in class, especially now that he and Clary are okay again. He smiles brightly at Jace when he walks into the classroom, something warm, friendly, private. But he doesn't make a move during class. Of course he wouldn't, they’re in class. Also, his ex-girlfriend is there. They might be on good terms but that doesn't mean it's okay to ask someone out in front of her.

But Jace waits for a call or a text until Thursday that week, the last day of his classes for that quarter. He’s supposed to leave for Brooklyn in a couple days with Izzy and Clary, who are both done with their schoolwork by Saturday afternoon. Simon is one of few people Jace knows with exams on finals week, and Jace is going to offer to be Simon’s road trip buddy back to Brooklyn. He’s happy to hang around campus an extra five days waiting for Simon.

They meet at Java Jones again, out of routine now more than anything else. Jace is done with all his final projects, so he spends the hour crafting his artist statement for his show case application. Simon’s studying again for finals.

Jace finally broaches the subject as they're both packing up—Simon has an accounting cram session to get to—nervously stopping Simon. "I heard you might need a road trip partner since Izzy is taking Clary back for break," he says, trying to sound nonchalant.

“I'm fine, actually,” Simon says. “I’m driving a friend back with me.”

“Oh,” Jace says lamely. “That sounds cool. Anyone I know?”

“Actually,” Simon says, his cheeks dusting pink as he fiddles with his bag, “About that. I have you to thank, for your solid advice last week. I asked out the guy from my accounting study group. He invited me to our friend’s party last week, and I spent half the time wondering if he was flirting with me or just being friendly. But like you said, I just went for it and asked him out. And it worked!”

Jace’s heartbeat comes to a screeching stop. He can’t seem to process the words—Simon can’t have said what he thinks he did.

“He’s pretty great,” Simon continues, oblivious to the way Jace stares at him blankly. “He’s super smart, into the same nerd shit I am, and hot to boot. He lives too far to justify flying home for only a week, and he's never been to actual New York, New York! So I invited him over for Spring Break.”

"Staying at your home for a week. That's a little fast for a second date, isn't it?" Jace says numbly, switching to a bitingly sardonic tone by default.

Simon laughs it off now; he's gotten used to Jace's unintentional meanness, has come to find it funny that Jace is, in his words, "so hot, but so socially awkward.”

"We've known each other since the beginning of the school year and we're pretty good friends. We've already talked about taking it slow, especially considering my last relationship. He's sleeping on the couch," Simon assures him, as if that's the main concern here.

Of course, Simon doesn't know that Jace had honestly thought that _he_ was the one Simon was spinning about, not some boring accounting major who probably wears a pocket protector. Simon doesn't know that Jace had hoped beyond hope that they were going to get together, only to be disappointed once again.

“But we should definitely hang out when we’re back in Brooklyn!” Simon tells him excitedly. “We’ve got this little Facebook group for planning out all the touristy things we’re going to do. Clary and Izzy are in on it, let me just add you real quick.”

Simon whips out his phone and launches the Facebook app.

"We're not Facebook friends,” Jace says lamely. He’s not sure if his heart should be sinking—wondering if Simon has forgotten their personal conversation last week—or if it should be excited that Simon's trying to make their friendship Facebook official.

“Really? I can’t believe that. We’ve been hanging out for months now,” Simon says as he types Jace’s name into the search bar. He finds Jace’s profile quickly, and Jace watches as Simon clicks on his profile. Simon’s eyebrows raise into his hairline.

“What’s up?” Jace asks.

Simon looks up at him, a little bit confused. He turns his phone to show Jace his profile on Simon’s phone. They have three mutual friends—Clary, Izzy, and— “You’re friends with Stiles Stilinski?”

“Yeah, we talk,” Jace says uncomfortably, “Is that…?”  His stomach knots in dread.  His mind immediately flashes back to his pact with Stiles, about how Stiles was going after someone in his study group. He’d forgotten that accounting was one of Stiles’ double majors. Even if he had remembered, what were the odds?

“Yeah, he’s the guy,” Simon says. He smiles a little bit as he thinks about Stiles, and Jace is shaken by a hot flare of jealousy at the sight. “This is perfect though! Now we should _definitely_ all hang out. Annnnd—friend request sent," Simon says as he taps his phone screen. Then he pockets his phone and turns to smile warmly at Jace, in a way Jace now recognizes is reserved for his close friends. Jace should be content with that. He doesn't deserve anything more.

"Anyway, yeah. Thanks for your advice on scoring the guy,” Simon says. “And I really appreciate that you were so accepting of me when I came out to you. Not everyone would have taken it so well. Come on, bring it in.”

Then to Jace’s horror, he sees Simon stretching out his arms and leaning towards him for a hug.

"No," Jace says quickly, panicked. “Never.” He can’t let Simon touch him now, not when he feels like his whole world has been turned upside down. Simon pulls back with a frown.

"But—”

“No hugging,” Jace reiterates, harsh edge in his tone.

Simon pouts, but shrugs it off. “Okay well, thanks,” he tells Jace as he shoulders his bag. “We'll definitely hang out over break though!”

He waves at Jace as he leaves, like the dork that he is. Jace wishes that he didn’t find that adorable.

He is so screwed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, [hang out with me on tumblr](http://the-undergod.tumblr.com). Sometimes I get impatient and post bits and pieces of my fic up on there before it's ready to post.
> 
> Next chapter will probably be out in 3-4 weeks. See you around~


	3. Spring Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon’s a problem. A problem that is now dating a guy Jace hooked up with to get over the problem. The thing is, Stiles and Simon are too perfect together. Jace is a little depressed about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on the next paragraph of the prompt, which I unfortunately didn't save a copy of before Talk to the Sky changed tumblrs. The gist is that Simon gets a new boyfriend and they're stupid perfect together, with all the nerd stuff and the pop culture stuff and how his personality is so much more open and matching with Simon's and Jace feels like he's lost Simon forever. Only change I've made from the prompt is that instead of Italy talk, Stiles is obviously is all up in that San Diego Comic Con business. Talk to the Sky gets props for the plot, I just filled in the details. <3

# # SPRING BREAK

Stiles is in town.

Luckily for Jace’s sanity, Stiles doesn’t end up staying with Simon for the week. Turns out he has an old friend living in Williamsburg, who he plans to crash with since, as Jace had pointed out, a week vacation at Simon’s home and meeting the family is a bit intense for a second date.

Stiles asks Jace to keep how they met private, at least for now. They even make up a cover story, according to which Stiles and Jace met at a book club which met maybe twice but fizzled out pretty quickly.

 _‘I do want to tell Simon eventually, if things get serious between us,’_ Stiles says to Jace over Messenger before he and Simon are due to return to Brooklyn. ‘I _’ve never dated a one night stand’s best friend before, so this is totally uncharted territory.’_

Jace doesn’t know what to do with any of this information. His mind overloads with the idea of Simon and Stiles becoming serious, but all he can focus on is a little phrase in that last message.

 _‘Best friend?’_ He’s honestly baffled.

 _‘That’s what Simon said??’_ Stiles replies quickly. ‘You’re doing that comic together right. He can’t stop talking about what an artist you are and how your work inspires him to new levels creatively speaking??????’

Stiles’ response has way too many question marks and raises too many questions in Jace’s mind. He just doesn’t get Simon, who for months barely tolerated him for Clary’s sake, then sat too close to him while working on their graphic novel, and now is going around telling everyone that they’re best friends and that Jace _inspires him to new levels,_  whatever that means.

Still, Jace wholeheartedly agrees that Stiles should _not_ tell Simon about the hookup, at least for now. He knows that despite the guy’s nerdy magnetism, Simon just isn’t confident in his love life. Jace doesn’t want to drive a wedge into their budding relationship. So he agrees to Stiles’ terms.

 _‘So what kind of books do we read at book club?’_ Jace asks to change the topic.

_‘I was thinking some nihilistic postmodern critique on capitalism. You’re an artiste, that seems your speed…’_

&

Jace gets an email at the official start of Spring Break that he’s been selected for the undergraduate showcase and requesting that he start getting his work ready for the exhibition, which is set for the sixth week of term. He uses this as an excuse to beg off of city outings with Simon, Stiles and company. Simon pouts and tries to convince him to stay, but with Stiles there he doesn’t try as hard as he usually might.

Stiles is under the impression that Jace is off secretly texting his secret crush whenever he’s not around. Jace doesn’t do anything to contradict this notion.

He spends his time instead working on crafting his artist statements and re-working his landscapes to include the duality concepts he started with the forest scene. Where that one was half in the lonely, dreamy night and half bathed in tentative, hopeful sunshine, he adds fire to his City of Glass in the country. It leaves the serene countryside in the foreground harshly juxtaposed with burning chaos in the distance.

Once in awhile he’ll take a break and pull out his phone because Izzy, Clary, and Simon are all texting him photos from their day trips. He’ll smile as he scrolls through Izzy’s pictures of food, Clary’s shots of street art, and Simon’s selfies in front of touristy landmarks. But every once in awhile, Stiles pops up in a photo standing next to Simon so their shoulders press together, and something inside Jace’s chest clenches. That’s when he goes back to work.

&

Jace goes on one outing with them, midway through the week. He tags along on the day they decide to hit Ellis Island. Izzy and Clary are there too, but the girls wander off on their own a lot, leaving Jace to third wheel as Stiles and Simon—God, their names are even cute together, they _alliterate—_ spend the day whispering at each other and ogling the attractions.

Somehow, Simon is the one who is even more excited to play tourist than Stiles. He drags onto the Staten Island Ferry for a cruise across New York Harbor, and Jace finds himself grinning in amusement as Simon bounds up to the railing of the boat and points out the Statue of Liberty. As if they didn’t have eyes. Jace watches then, too, as Stiles leans up on the railing next to Simon so that their elbows bump together and Stiles smiles indulgently at Simon.

“Thanks for doing all these touristy things with me,” Stiles says, looking at Jace over Simon’s shoulder to make sure he’s included in the conversation. “I know it’s probably all boring to you locals, so I appreciate your sacrifice.”

“Are you kidding? Of course we’re happy to take you out—What kind of New Yorker doesn’t take pride in their City?” Simon exclaims.

Stiles snorts. “Derek said, and I quote, ‘New York is a city built on trash, why do you have to see the entire thing.’”

Simon’s mouth literally drops. “He lives in _Williamsburg_ and he’s not even Jewish. Derek’s a gentrifying hipster and his very existence offends me,” Simon huffs. Stiles and Jace meet eyes, both amused at Simon’s indignation.

&

The thing is, Stiles and Simon are too perfect together. Jace is a little depressed about it.

They have the same sense of style and speak the same nerd language—Sci-Fi, Movies, Superhero comics. Stiles makes an offhand comment about volunteering at San Diego Comic Con every July for the last five years that makes Simon’s eyes go wide before he fires off a dozen questions about the event, about the panels and campaigns and if he’s already got his badges to go this year.

“Don’t we have one of those in New York?” Jace asks, a little confused. “I remember Clary and you making a big deal out of going to one at the beginning of the school year.”

Simon rolls his eyes at Jace, but is more than happy to correct him. “Yeah, but it’s not the same! NYCC is pretty cool, but San Diego is THE one to be at. It always has bigger panels, a lot more things going on, and it’s nearly impossible to get badges to get for. They’re always sold out in like, ten minutes.”

“I’ve got priority registration,” Stiles butts in then. Simon turns to look at him, and Stiles quirks his lips at him. “I could get a volunteer badge for you? You’d have to work a few hours, but then you get the rest of the day to do whatever you want,” he offers, and then winks, nudging Simon’s elbow. “Plus, you’ll have me for company.”

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” Simon grins back, positively beaming at Stiles, so bright that Jace has to look away.

&

With Stiles’ encouragement, Simon starts talking more seriously about continuing work on their project from last quarter. “We have the first few pages already and a lot of story ideas we didn’t get to explore,” Simon tells everyone. It’s the end of the day and they’re all sitting at the Java Jones location near Simon and Clary’s houses, tired from a long day of walking around town.

Simon looks from Clary and Jace across from him to Stiles at his side, who has his arm slung casually over the back of Simon’s chair. He smiles encouragingly at Simon, and Simon relaxes at that.

“We could post it online, even just one page a week,” Simon goes on to propose. “Stiles has already offered to throw together a website for us, we would just have to forward him the content for it.”

“Oh, so on top of being an accountant, a lawyer, and a comic convention guru, you’re a web designer now too,” Jace drawls in Stiles’ direction. It sounds bitter to his ears, more pointed and personal than usual, and Jace immediately wishes death upon himself. This is the exact _opposite_ of staying out of Stiles and Simon’s way.

Jace watches Stiles’ sheepish grin freeze in place as he casts a hard glance in Jace’s direction. But Simon just laughs that full, amused way he always does at Jace’s expense. He leans back in his chair, into Stiles’ arm so that Stiles is preoccupied with Simon snuggling up to him instead of Jace being unnecessarily rude. Stiles looks at his Simon, pleasantly surprised at the PDA. It’s the first time all day that they’ve done more than bump elbows and smile goofily at each other.

Jace watches Stiles’ arm make the subtle shift from the back of Simon’s chair to his shoulders.

“It’s not like setting things up on a template is particularly _hard_ , Jace,” Simon chides, matching Jace’s usual sardonic tone. It’s how they banter, these days, and he hopes Stiles realizes that. He hopes Stiles will think this sharp, pointed tone is how he usually quips—hopes Stiles doesn’t realize that he meant it, in this instance.

“That’s a great idea, Simon,” Clary breaks in. Jace secretly thanks her for it. “I don’t really think I could take part though, at least not until my thesis is finished.”

“Aw,” Simon pouts. “C’mon Fray. You’ve got to do this with me.”

“I’m really sorry,” Clary says, looking truly apologetic. “But it’s not as though I was with you for the bulk of the creative anyway, that was all you and Jace.”

“So what about you, Jace?” Stiles asks, leaning forward again in interest. “Your work really is great. I’ve seen your pages, and that painting series you’re doing for the school thing? Amazing. I’m already your number one fan.”

“Besides me, of course,” Simon butts in. “I wouldn’t want to keep working on this without you. So what do you say?”

He gives Jace that annoying hopeful look, the one that softens Jace’s resolve every time. The one that’s the reason for why he agreed to go on this stupid outing as a third wheel to Simon and his boyfriend. Fifth wheel, if you include Clary and Izzy, who spent literally all their time today wandering around and getting lost together, leaving Jace with the newly minted couple.

Jace can’t say no to that look. So he says, “Yes, sounds great. We should get started this week.”

Izzy, sitting at the end of the table sipping at her Strawberry Vanilla Frappucino, shakes her head at him.

&

It’s Saturday before they go back to school that they finally get together to work on their project. Stiles is spending the day with the friend he’s been staying with, but Simon’s here at the Java Jones with Jace going over their plans for the web comic.

As always, Jace enjoys listening to Simon talk, entranced by the way his eyes light up with joy at simply being able to talk about his ideas.

At some point though, the conversation lulls. When Jace looks at Simon, he sees the other guy deep in thought while worrying his lip.

“What is it, Simon?” Jace asks warily.

Simon looks up at Jace, seemingly startled that Jace cares enough to ask. “I was just wondering…” he starts hesitantly. “What do you think of Stiles?”

“Does it matter what I think?” Jace grumbles, hunching back over his sketchbook.

“It does,” Simon insists. He can’t quite look Jace in the eye, instead looking at his hands as he plays with his pen on the table between them. “You’re one of my best friends, as weird as that is to say. We spend almost all our free time together, plus with Clary we’re like the three musketeers. Of course it matters what you think of my… dates.”

“Oh,” Jace says. He’s floored. Stiles had mentioned the best friends before, but this is the first time he’s heard Simon say it himself. It makes him feel warm inside, but also miserable.

Oblivious to Jace’s internal 404, Simon continues: “I trust your judgement, and it’s hard to know if I’m just seeing what I want to. Plus, you’re the only person in our group who already knew Stiles before this week, with the whole book club thing.” Simon pauses, then starts to laugh at a thought in his head. “God, I still can’t wrap my head around that book club. You just do not seem the type.”

Jace huffs, feigning annoyance at Simon’s laughter. “I can read you know. I don’t know why you seem to think I don’t.”

Simon shrugs. “I mean, you’re all artsy, yeah. But you also look like a gym bro or an underwear model. All…” And here Simon hunches his shoulders and flexes his muscles. It’s really silly looking, and Jace snorts at him.

“Stiles is a good guy,” Jace tells Simon, steering them back on topic. “A little nosy, but his heart is in the right place.”

Simon takes this in with a thoughtful nod. “Then why do you avoid hanging out with us?”

Jace sputters. “What? I’m not avoiding anyone. I’ve been working on my pieces for the showcase.”

Simon looks at him then, distinctly unimpressed. “Stiles may not be able to tell, but I know you. You’ve been _evasive_ , don’t you deny it.”

Jace wants to deny it, but he can’t when faced with Simon’s glare. He deflates. He’s not sure when Simon got to know him so well; it’s both a blessing and a curse.

He decides to give Simon half the truth. “Remember when I said Stiles is nosy?” Jace asks.

“Yeah, like five seconds ago,” Simon says, sounding a little suspicious.

“Well, he found out I had a crush on someone, and forced me into this pact. We’d both do something about our crushes. And, well,” Jace says, waving a hand at Simon. “It worked out for him. Not so much for me.”

Simon’s face cycles through a series of expressions—critical, then surprise, then a flash of pity mixed with something odd—before he settles on slightly confused. “So… You’re avoiding Stiles and me because us together reminds you of … what, getting rejected?”

“Something like that,” Jace says, looking away as he shrugs a shoulder. “Can’t technically get rejected if you don’t have a chance in the first place.”

Simon frowns slightly. “That’s a bummer,” he says. “I get it though. In high school, whenever Clary or any of our friends were all coupled up, and I was so pathetically single, I had a hard time being around them too. But Jace, when we’re back at school, can you at least try to hang out with me and Stiles?”

Jace nods in response, just so that Simon will smile. He’s not even sure how much time they’ll actually get to all spend together this quarter, but he’s got to get over this some time, especially if the couple gets more—how did Stiles put it?— _serious._

Simon looks pleased. Then he says, “Between you and me, your crush is missing out. You’re the total package: talented, smart, hot like the sun. You’ll do fine.” Simon delivers this line with a wink.

Jace’s cheeks flush. Simon just laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being away so long! And a relatively short chapter at that. I waffled about having a Spring Break chapter because I didn't have a Winter Break one (you can find cut scenes from an abandoned Winter Break chapter [on tumblr](http://the-undergod.tumblr.com/post/164437992765)), but here I go!
> 
> I appreciate all your support, kudos, comments, bookmarks, subscriptions, and however else you're supporting this fic. It means the world to me. <3


	4. Spring Quarter I: APRIL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring quarter starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m back. Sorry for the wait. You’ll see the Chapter count is up again. Whoops! If you are reading my writing on Tumblr, most of this is not brand new, but please read again anyway. :-) See end notes for further information. Thank you so much to everyone who is been kindly encouraging me with your comments and kudos all this time. I appreciate it more than you know.

APRIL

Jace breathes a sigh of relief when the new term finally starts. He is glad to be back at school, back to the grind of workshops and the odd art history class.

Life goes on, more normal now than before spring break now that Clary and Simon have made up. Even though he’s not in class with  them anymore, they continue to have their twice weekly group work sessions from last semester. It expands to regularly include Izzy (who lately has been attached to Clary at the hip), sometimes Alec, and occasionally Stiles, when he’s not running around to his various study groups.

In an odd way, it's nice having Stiles around. Their cover story—that they met at a book club that has since been disbanded—becomes a real thing when Simon and Stiles team up to make him read some classic William Gibson. Science fiction really isn’t his thing, but he doesn’t mind the book they choose too much, and having Simon and Stiles to talk to about it all makes it more interesting.

Being around the two of them gets easier, but never easy. Something in Jace feels bruised when he watches the ease in which they tease each other and understand each other’s interests. It’s worse than with Clary, because there was always something off with that relationship.That had turned out to be because Simon and Clary were just incompatible as a couple.

But with Stiles, Simon seems to have found his other half.

“They say they’re still feeling things out,” Clary says one time, when it’s just the two of them and Izzy at the dining hall. “But I’ve known Simon for twelve years. I’m pretty sure he was ready to marry this guy when he bought him Spideypool fanart from that street artist in Central Park over break. You weren’t there, but Izzy can vouch.”

“To be fair, Simon’s heart eyes aren’t that different than how he usually looks at anything else. He’s filled with wonder, that one,” Izzy comments.

Clary’s busy spearing her vegetables on her fork, so she’s oblivious the sympathetic look that Izzy throws in Jace’s direction. Jace glares at his sister, but quickly schools his face back to normal before Clary glances up from her food.

Jace pretends to be bored, poking at his mash potatoes, forcing neutrality into his tone as he asks, “As Simon’s Maid of Honor, do you approve?”

“I definitely do,” Clary says brightly. “They’re like the same person, it’s crazy how in sync they are.”

“But being exactly the same is kind of overrated, isn’t it?” Izzy asks.

Clary looks at Izzy, an oddly light smile gracing her face. “It’s important to have at least some things in common, but I for one don’t mind if our interests and styles don’t match perfectly. All that matters is liking and enjoying being around each other.”

Izzy matches Clary’s smile, and Jace tunes them out after that, lost in stewing over Simon and wondering if Simon liked and enjoyed being around _him_ that way _._

&

Jace spends a lot of free time on the webcomic. Simon is impressed when Jace comes to him with a full ten pages, inked and ready to go online, less than two weeks into the semester.

“When do you even sleep?” Simon asks as he flips through the pages, eyes tracing every line and shadow on the page hungrily. “You’ve been speeding through these, but the lines are just getting better and better.”

“I’m just that amazing,” Jace tells Simon, falling back on his flippant narcissm to hide just how pleased he is with the praise.

“I love it,” Simon says, grinning brightly at Jace.  “I’ll scan it in and shoot it over to Stiles to schedule posts on the website.  Did you know we already have followers? I mean, obviously most of them are our friends, some of Stile’s friends too, but still, how cool is that?”

“Very cool,” Jace says, smirking indulgently at Simon.

“Oh, I have a favor to ask,” Simon says, closing the folder of comic pages.  He pushes his glasses up at the bridge and runs a hand through his hair nervously.  “There’s open auditions for the Student Union talent show tomorrow. Can you come with me? For moral support.”

“Sure,” Jace says, quickly cutting off Simon before he can start rambling. Simon, whose mouth is still open about to say something in addition to that, seems surprised that it was so easy to get a yes from Jace. Quickly, Jace turns the topic before Simon can wonder about that. “Who else is coming with?”

Simon shrugs.  “Izzy has class, Clary’s still freaking about about her thesis. It’s going to be just me and you, buddy.”

“What about Stiles?” Jace asks curiously.

Simon huffs a fond little laugh at that. “Stiles is even worse than me when it comes to pressure. He nearly has a panic attack like, twice a quarter. When I told him about auditions, his reaction made _me_ feel like I was being unreasonably calm. I can’t have that kind of energy around me when I’m getting hype for my audition. I need your coolness, Jace.” Simon looks at Jace hopefully with that line.

“I already said I’d come,” Jace says, rolling his eyes at Simon’s victory fist pump.

“Awesome,” Simon says as he packs his things to head out. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bright and early! Audition slots are first come first serve. Queue starts at 9 AM!”

“ _What?”_ Jace spits, aghast. He has a very strict policy of not waking up before 11 if he can, and has conditioned his body to stay up late in the night to work on his art projects. Simon just grins happily as he waves goodbye.

The things Jace does for this boy.

&

It’s far too early the next morning when Jace shows up at Simon’s on campus apartment to help him carry his equipment down to the student center. Jace has brought coffee from the corner shop, but the sight of Simon’s goofy smile is better than three shots of espresso.

Jace offers Simon a latte, which Simon takes gratefully.

“You are my hero,” Simon tells him emphatically before he bolts back the coffee.

This is Jace's first time in Simon's apartment, and Jace tries not to think of this as a significant moment.  He follows Simon into his room, where there's a small stack of equipment that Jace has been recruited to lug down to the student center.

"Is all this really necessary?" Jace asks dubiously as Simon tosses his emptied Java cup in the trash.

"Of course! I'm a one-man band now, these are my tools," Simon says. He explains the stack of equipment--he has a long hard case for his keyboard, a smaller one for his synth drum kit, a couple metal frames and a utility bag for cables and other odds and ends. It all seems a bit extra, but Jace doesn't offer his opinion.

Simon’s roommate is still home, already up and getting ready for the day as Jace and Simon start dragging some of the stuff through the living room. Jace hasn’t met him before, but has heard about Raphael and his weirdly intense gaze, so Jace isn’t surprised to see the other guy leaning against the kitchen island watching Jace and Simon with quiet amusement.

Jace sets down the instrument frames he’s carrying so he can reach out and shake the other guy’s hand.  “You must be Simon’s roommate,” he introduces himself.

Raphael takes his hand firmly. “Nice to meet you. Are you the new guy dear Simon’s been seeing?”

Jace’s cheeks flush red, and behind him he hears Simon squawk loudly, followed by a loud thud.

When Jace turns, he sees Simon struggling to pick up his keyboard again, the heavy case large and unwieldy. It doesn’t help that Simon’s other arm is also laden with his synth--for some reason he wouldn’t let Jace carry his babies, despite having some difficulty carrying both of them by himself.

“Ah, no, Raphael, this is Jace. Clary’s friend. We do the comic together,” Simon explains as he hoists the keyboard.

“Oh,” Raphael says, giving Jace an evaluating look. “So you’re the other impossibly hot guy Simon’s been spending time with.”

Like a shot, Simon pushes his way between them before Jace has a chance to respond. He’s laughing nervously, as he tends to do before he says something deflective.

“Ah, look at the time. We’ve got to go!” Simon blurts. “I’ll see you later Raphael--”

“You’ve got something on your face,” Raphael tells Simon, cutting him off.

“I… What? Where?” Simon asks. Jace watches as, ridiculously, Simon glances down, eyes crossing as he tries to see his past his own nose.

Raphael used his thumb to indicate a spot on his own face, looking amused as Simon struggles to reach the spot without putting down his keyboard.

There’s a dash of latte foam on Simon’s chin--just a small, bubbling dash--and Jace laughs to cover up the irrational surge of _want_ that rises when he sees the tip of Simon’s tongue poke out from the corner of his lips, trying to lick up the stray drop. It doesn’t reach.

“Don’t just laugh at me!” Simon whines. He tilts his head and rubs his face against his shoulder. “Did I get it?”

“Still there,” Raphael says. He doesn’t make a move to help.

Simon glares at him. Then he turns to Jace instead, juts his chin out to him.

“Get it for me? Please?” he asks.

Jace’s breath hitches at Simon’s plea.

With an exaggerated sigh, Jace reaches out and uses the hem of his shirt sleeve to wipe the foam from Simon’s chin. Suddenly it feels like there’s only two of them in the room. It’s as if time slows as his thumb gently brushes against Simon’s skin through the fabric. Simon’s eyes slide closed, and he leans in toward Jace. It’s intimate, and for a moment Jace lets himself imagine that he’s leaning in for a kiss.

Then the moment is over. As soon as Jace wipes up the spot, he jerks his hand away.

“I got it,” he says, taking a quick step back from Simon. He glances over at Raphael, who’s just looking at him critically. He doesn’t say anything, and Simon doesn’t notice, but Jace feels exposed all the same.

Simon, still oblivious, blinks his eyes open and grins happily at Jace.  “Thanks! I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Jace snorts. “Die trying to drag all this equipment down there with coffee dripping down your shirt, probably.”

Simon rolls his eyes. “My hero.” But he does it fondly, so Jace can’t complain.

&

Clary and Izzy host dinner one towards the end of April. By host, Jace means that they invite him and Simon to the _nice_ dining hall on campus.

Clary and Izzy have been spending a lot more time together since spring break, which Jace has never really questioned until now; usually when the four are together, they would sit in pairs: Simon next to Clary, with Izzy and Jace on the opposite side.

Tonight, Izzy has taken the seat next to Clary that Simon usually takes, leaving Simon to fill the seat next to Jace. There is a weird energy at their table, the two girls glancing at each other furtively between quips and bites of food. Simon notices the energy too, leaning to whisper in Jace’s ear.

“Why are they so suss? Do you think they’re trying to poison us?” he asks.

Jace snorts at the joke and mutters back, “Izzy’s always wanted to be the prettiest of us. It was only time she’d take out the competition.”

“There you go, calling me pretty again,” Simon teases.

Jace pauses mid-bite, glancing to see how serious Simon is right now. He’s grinning in that satisfied way he gets when he knows he’s caught Jace off guard.

“I was talking about between Iz, Alec and me,” Jace says; at least that’s what he meant to be talking about. Damn Freudian slips.

“I know,” Simon assures him. He bumps their elbows together good naturedly. “A boy can dream though, right?”

_What??_

Before Jace can even process _that_ , he hears Clary clearing her throat. Both boys snap back to attention.

“So we have something to tell you,” Clary starts. She looks nervous, glancing to Izzy for support. Izzy nods encouragingly at her, reaching out her hand across the table to Clary.

Then Clary reaches out to clasp her hands. Jace feels like he should feel surprised, but doesn’t.

“We’re officially girlfriends!” Izzy announces with a smile.

“Congratulations,” Jace tells them sincerely.  He can’t remember Izzy being had happy as she has been recently, and while he hasn’t spent as much time with Clary lately, he had noticed some glowing energy about her as well.

Jace glances at Simon to see his reaction, only to see Simon still shocked.

Clary smiles at them and continues to ramble: “Simon, I wanted to let you know first because of our history. You know how we weren’t really ourselves when we were dating? I think I figured it out. And… Simon? Are you okay?”

Simon snaps out of it, and a wide smile crosses his face. “Oh my god, yeah! I’m so happy for you!” Simon says emphatically. He reaches across the table to take her hand and squeeze it. “When did this happen? How did I not know?”

“Maybe you were too busy with lover boy,” Izzy teases. “You and Stiles have been _hanging out_ for more than a month now. When are you going to put a ring on it?”

Simon draws his hands back and shrugs, looking a little uncomfortable that the conversation has turned back to him. “I mean, I like him. A _lot_. But I don’t know… labels don’t really feel right.”

Clary smiles in that beatific way she has, gentle and encouraging. “Hey, it took us a while to get our things sorted out too. I’m sure it’s a matter of time. And then, we should definitely go on double dates!”

Izzy huffs a little laugh. “You mean _this_ isn’t a double date?”

Jace feels heat creep up his neck, but a glance at Simon shows his cheeks are turning red too. That makes him feel better.

“Shut up, Iz. Tonight is about you two,” Jace grouses at her. He lifts his cup of fountain soda in toast. “To your love, may it never die.”

Izzy smacks a kiss to Clary’s cheek as Simon picks up his cup to clink it against Jace’s. They all laugh together. It feels good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, ha ha. When I started writing the story, I had no idea that I’d be working on almost a year later and still be safe stuck on the same plot point I was back in October. I am working on it though, and I want to say I am about 2/3 of the way through what I expected to have that for the final chapter. 
> 
> I really wanted to post something though, especially since I have the best readers as they keep coming back to leave comments again and again that make me want to keep working hard for them. Thank you! I’m not going to make another promise about when the next bit is going to be up, but it will hopefully be soon.


	5. Spring Quarter II:  MAY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things come to a head.

May

Simon and Stiles move at a glacial pace. It’s been a month, and they still don’t call each other boyfriends despite spending most of their limited free time together. They rarely do PDA. They haven’t even changed their relationship status on Facebook. It helps Jace’s psyche, at least.

Jace still gets anxious when he’s with them together.

Stiles joins them one Sunday when they get together to discuss the next arc that Simon’s written for the comic. It features a lot of gratuitous shirtlessness (“Because why else would you have magic tied to tattoos all over?”) and a subplot about vampires, but Simon’s not sure what plot element to introduce next.

“What about werewolves?” Stiles suggests. “I’m digging the whole mafia vibe you’ve got going with the clan, but they’ve got to have some kind of rival. Plus, lots of opportunities for shirtless dudes.”

“Oh yeah?” Simon says, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, and maybe I can be in it too, but like a human among werewolves, like how your guy’s a human among hunters,” Stiles continues.

Simon hesitates for a moment, but Jace is quick to respond.

“Are you sure? That’s a pretty big _commitment_ ,” he says. He puts an emphasis on the word that draws the other two’s attention, making it clear that he’s referencing more than a Stiles cameo.

They both frown slightly at him, but he shrugs it off. He doesn’t care if he’s rude; he just doesn’t like the idea of drawing Stiles into the comic at all.

“You don’t have to be a jerk about it,” Simon says, scowling.

“I’m just saying,” Jace protests. It’s unfair of Simon to be mad—he had been the one that hesitated when Stiles made the suggestion. _He_ doesn’t want to do it either. Also, this is the first time in a while that he’s reacted badly to Jace’s impulsive rudeness. Jace doesn’t know what to make of that.

Simon pushes his glasses up by the bridge, a pinched expression on his face.

“Okay, well, we can talk about this later. I have to get to my accounting study group,” Simon says. It’s a weak excuse, considering they’ve only been talking about the comic for twenty minutes, but neither Jace or Stiles call him out on it.

After Simon packs up and leaves, Jace is surprised that Stiles hangs back.

“I’m sorry about that,” Stiles says. He sags in his seat, and it’s only then that Jace notices that Stiles had been tense in the first place.

“You’re not going with him?” Jace asks.

Stiles waved off the question. “Not taking any accounting classes this quarter. Listen, I want to talk to you.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“If you _really_ want to do a werewolf thing,” Jace says quickly, “Maybe we can work something out…”

“It’s about Simon,” Stiles says.

Jace stops mid sentence and glances around quickly, even though he knows Simon is long gone.

When he looks back, Stiles has his eyes narrowed, taking in Jace’s jumpiness.

“You’re being weird again,” Stiles says abruptly, turning the conversation to Jace.

“I’m not being weird. You are,” Jace shoots back, but Stiles looks unimpressed.

“See? This is what I’m talking about. You could do so much better than that. But lately your wit has been so… uninspired.”  Stiles eyes Jace in that calculating way he always does, then says, “Is this about Luke?”

That’s a blast from the past. Stiles hasn’t badgered him about his love life since before Spring Break. Jace was kind of hoping that he’d forget to bring it up ever again.

“It’s not,” Jace says defensively, but the lie is obvious.

Stiles rolls his eyes. “It hasn’t escaped me. You barely spend time with him—how could you? You spend all your free time with Simon and Clary.  And you’ve been more and more morose every time I see you.”

“I hoped you wouldn’t notice,” Jace mumbles. It’s true though; he’s miserable. Stiles is just laughably wrong about everything else.

Stiles looks surprised at that. “Of course I’d notice. You’re my friend. Oh my god, your self-deprecating streak is almost as bad as Derek’s. I bet you feel like you deserve to be unhappy too.”

Jace doesn’t respond to that. The truth is that he _does_ deserve it. Every moment he’s known Simon, he’s felt badly about how he feels. He hated when Simon was with Clary and relished in Simon’s broken heart. He selfishly revels in Simon’s attention whenever he gets it, even though he offers Simon nothing in return but a pretty face.

Simon deserves someone who can match his verve for life. Someone like Stiles.

Stiles just looks at Jace with a bit of pity and rests a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “Jace, listen to me. You are not unworthy. If your guy is going to treat you badly, screw him.”

Jace cracks a smile, thinking of how Simon had said the same thing. He excuses himself soon after to go back to working on his showcase pieces.

He doesn’t realize till later that Stiles never actually talked about Simon like he’d wanted to. Well, it’s not like Jace is eager to bring that subject up again.

&

Jace thanks his lucky stars he has Alec. His brother is the only person who isn’t constantly in his face about his love life. Alec knows something is going on in that department, but doesn’t go out of his way to pity or coddle Jace at all.

That’s why Alec is the one he goes to about his Stiles-Simon dilemma. He unloads everything to Alec during a lifting session at the gym.

“Just to recap,” Alec says, as he helps Jace load plates onto the bench barbell. “You keep pushing Simon into relationships with other people. Including his not-a-boyfriend, who you slept with.”

“Yup,” Jace says. He slides under the bar and starts pressing the weight.

“And you’re stressed out by trying to keep this a secret. From Simon,” says Alec.

“Yes.”

“Who you are in love with.”

Jace grunts as he finishes his set and sets the bar back. He’s still breathing hard as sits up. Panting, he nods at Alec. “You’ve got the gist of it,” he says.

Alex has a vaguely nauseous look. “I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”

Jace rolls his eyes and gets up from the bench. “Are you going to give me guy advice or not?”

Alec takes a long pull of his water bottle before he responds. “My first advice would be to find someone a little less obnoxious to be in love with, but since you already went down that road, maybe you’re better off just telling him how you feel.”

“Not happening,” Jace says automatically.

“Listen. You can’t just keep ignoring this thing if it’s affecting you this much. God knows I tried that with Magnus for too long,” Alec says. “Remember when I was dating Lydia, pretending I wasn’t falling head over heels for Magnus the whole while? You’re basically doing the same thing.”

He does have a point, Jace has to admit. He starts to zone out as Alec starts his set of presses.

How would Jace even go about it? He hasn’t even seen Simon all week, busy as he is preparing for the upcoming undergraduate showcase. He thinks he saw Simon once around campus, but then the other guy had turned and walked in into the biomedical library building. There’s no way to corner him, and it's not like he has a wedding to interrupt or anything for dramatic effect.

He pushes the thought away. Even if he did find the right moment—Stiles is in the picture.

“I don’t want to be a home wrecker,” Jace says out loud as Alec finishes his set.

“You said yourself they don’t even call each other boyfriends,” Alec points out. “If this thing had any staying power, you know Simon would be all over that.”

“He’s just being overly cautious after the thing with Clary crashed and burned,” Jace insists. “It doesn’t mean he’s not serious about it.”

Alec rolls his eyes. “Your life. But don’t say I never tried to help.”

&

The day of the undergraduate showcase comes around. There’s a whole to-do about it. For the showcase, the gallery room of the art department has been transformed into something upscale by virtue of fancy place settings and the presence of wine and cheese.

There’s even a dress code. Jace feels comfortable in his suit, but same can’t be said of Clary, who is struggling with walking in heels while tugging at a short dress she has borrowed from Izzy for the night. Clary resorts to linking her arm with Izzy’s to stay upright as they enter the building.

As much time as they spend together, Jace has never actually seen Clary’s thesis project, so he takes the time to visit her corner of the gallery with Izzy.

Jace is somewhat aware that Clary’s natural interest is somewhat impressionistic. Her thesis project includes a series of small watercolor paintings that chronicle her personal journey, or at least that’s how Clary explains it to him as she delivers her artist statement.

“All of us have something inside that we are afraid to admit, even to ourselves,” Clary says. “In this series of abstracts, I sought to define my own secret and confront it in a medium that is softer and more approachable.”

She’s clearly nervous, mechanically going through her artist statement. She keeps glancing nervously from her paintings to Izzy and Jace until Izzy places a hand on Clary’s shoulder.

“Relax, babe,” Izzy says with an encouraging smile. “You’re going to do great tonight.”

Clary smiles gratefully at her as Jace takes a closer look at Clary’s project.

There’s twelve of these canvases, all told. They are set together so that the top left hand corner are equally spaced, moving downward until the lower right hand corner has the canvases scattered erratically. In opposition, the brush strokes are heavy and chaotic in the upper left, though dull in color, with the series of paintings becoming more vibrant and graceful through the last canvas.

They’re all portraits, though more like _impressions_ of people than traditional representations. Idly, Jace wonders what grade she got on the portrait assignments for the one class they took together.

Jace’s own display in the exhibit isn’t quite as chaotic. He has chosen only three of his landscape series to display.

The first is the forest scene Clary had helped him finalize, with the night melting into day.

The next is the countryside with the glass tower in the distance Magnus had once commented on, except he had worked on the colors to emphasize the warmth of the pastoral foreground, with the glass city far in the background bathed in cool colors.

The last is a newer painting that he had started over spring break and finished in April. He’s particularly proud of the new piece, which features intricate buildings inspired by New York City, but surrounded by a sea of desert sand. It’s the only one he’s added a small figure on, its little silhouette legs dangling off the edge of a bridge over desert dunes.

The rest of their friends and family arrive later. Alec and Magnus are the first to drop by. Jace’s brother is proud of him, even if he isn’t very sure what the work is all about.  He does pay rapt attention as Magnus happily waxes poetic on his own interpretation of Jace’s paintings. Jace finds his commentary amusing.

Even Maryse and Robert have come to town for the event. Despite all their misgivings about Jace’s chosen area of study, they actually seem rather proud of him for once.

Simon is there too, making his way to Jace’s corner of the gallery with Stiles by his side. It’s been over a week now since they last saw each other, and they’ve texted maybe twice in that time frame. For a moment, Jace is sure Simon will blow him off completely, so it’s a relief when he sees Simon make his way across the room to him.

He looks handsome despite an ill-fitting and outdated suit. Jace doesn’t mention his thoughts, of course.

“Where’d you get the suit? You look like a child tax accountant,” he says instead.

Stiles snorts a laugh while Simon plays mock offended. He huffs: “Uh, excuse me? I’m wearing the finest thrift store threads money could buy.”

“You look like a paleontology professor in the 70s. Tweed. The humanity,” Jace quips drily.

Simon rolls his eyes and changes the subject. Jace counts it as a win.

“So, what are we looking at here?” Simon asks, turning to one of the paintings.

Simon tilts his head and leans in close, pretending to inspect the painting like a pretentious art critic. Jace has his artist statement memorized and even delivered it already five times this night, but when Simon’s eyes trace the brushstrokes, Jace suddenly feels nervous about it.

“This is my art,” Jace says.

“That's all you’re going to say?” Stiles admonishes.

“Yeah,” Simon chimes in. “You kept blowing us off all of spring break and on weekends for this, there’s got to be something more.” He raises an expectant eyebrow at Jace.

Jace looks for a moment from Simon to Stiles, who is mirroring the eyebrow raise and crosses arms.

It’s irritating, how well the two of them match.

“Maybe I ditched you all break because I didn’t want to hear about Star Wars 24/7,” Jace shoots back. It’s not true; he could listen to Simon read a phone book and he’d hang on to every word.

“Lies,” Stiles cuts in with a good natured grin. He turns to Simon and gestures at Jace. “Can you believe? The first time I met this guy, he was _dressed_ as Han Solo.”

Simon lights up at the mention. “Oh, I remember that! Halloween, right?” He asks.

Stiles nods in affirmation. Meanwhile, Jace feels his heart beat quicken, remembering now exactly what Stiles knows about that night and that costume.

“Yeah,” Simon continues, “Izzy found out that Clary and I were doing a group costume and tricked Jace into doing it too!” He laughs as he tell the story, completely unaware of the tension that suddenly generates between the three of them.

Stiles’ grin freezes. His brow furrows as he looks from Simon to Jace and back again. “Wait, so if Jace was Han, then you were…?”

“I was Luke. Clary was Leia,” Simon says. He beams up at Jace, but Jace can’t appreciate it. “It’s just too bad that we didn’t run into you the whole night. Could have taken a cute group photo.”

“Huh,” Stiles says, tone flat. He looks at Jace again, eyebrow raised.  “Luke, huh? That’s interesting.”

Jace grimaces back, not sure what there is to say in response.

In the beat of silence that follows, Simon glances quizzically between them. He seems to sense the silent conversation happening and switches to full Social Distraction Mode.

“Anyway, Jace, Clary gave me her artist statement. What about yours?” he asks.

Jace jumps at the subject change. He gives Simon the whole spiel from the top. Simon is in genuine awe of the work, peppering him with questions and compliments in between Jace’s explanations of technique and theme.

Stiles is oddly quiet beside them, not making any snarky commentary for once. Eventually he excuses himself.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ve got to run,” he says with a small, stiff smile. “I forgot that my mock trial case notes are due tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay?” Simon says, looking a little confused as Stiles gives him a brief one-armed hug. “I’ll see you Friday though, right?”

“I’ll let you know,” Stiles says. He leaves with a firm nod in Jace’s direction. Jace is sure he’s going to be hearing from him soon.

After he’s gone, Simon turns to Jace with a grimace. “Sorry about that,” he says.

“There's no need to apologize,” Jace says. To be honest, as much anxiety as he has over Stiles right now, he’s mostly just glad he’s gone.

In the brief silence that follows, Jace tries to think of what to say next, until Simon opens his mouth hesitantly.

“That night at Halloween,” he starts. “What Stiles said… Was that the night you guys…?”

That startles Jace. It takes a moment for Simon’s words to register. He can’t have heard that right. “Um, what?” Jace asks.

“I’m sorry, that's probably weird to ask. But Stiles told me about how you guys met at Pandemonium and, you know,” Simon tells him, talking so fast the words trip coming out his mouth. He’s flailing his hands around awkwardly, a high flush on his cheek. “And you guys kind of hooked up?”

Jace’s heart is pounding again, his head feeling suddenly light and thoughts racing a mile a minute. When did this happen? How long has Simon known?

Simon continues blabbering when Jace doesn’t say anything. “I mean, it’s not a big deal. It was a long time ago. None of us knew each other really well back then. I just. I remember Halloween, and how we were waiting to meet up with you guys, and eventually Izzy comes by all upset you’d left already with someone.”

“Actually, _that_ happened after winter break,” Jace says numbly. “You were dating Clary then.”

“Oh,” Simon says. “So that was a little more recent.” He falls silent, turning to look at Jace’s paintings again instead of Jace himself. He looks like he’s thinking hard, a furrow to his brow like when he’s working on a particularly frustrating homework problem.

Jace is at a loss for words. Simon keeps saying it’s not a big deal, but he seems almost… mad about it? God knows why.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Simon says finally. Then quickly clarifies, “That you like guys, not about you and Stiles specifically. I understand why you wouldn’t tell me that. But you would think, especially after I came out to you… I mean, that’s like _literally_ the only thing we have in common…”

Jace shrugs, uncomfortable with Simon’s line of babbling. “It’s not a secret.  I just don’t talk about it. I even have a tattoo based on bisexual iconography,” Jace says.

“I don’t think I’ve seen it before,” Simon says. He looks curiously at Jace, his eyes flitting over different parts of his body where the tattoo might be. His gaze makes Jace feel hot under the collar.  He’s tempted to shrug off his jacket and roll up his sleeve to show the damn thing to Simon, but he manages to keep his cool.

“Are you done?” he deadpans. Simon startles, looking up at Jace wide-eyed, a pink blush dusting his face. That’s interesting, Jace thinks, but Simon starts talking again before Jace has a chance.

“Sorry. That was really inappropriate,” Simon says in a rush. He backs away from Jace, hooking a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of Clary’s exhibit. “I’m going to just go. Over there. To say hi to Clary and your sister. Okay, bye!”

He bolts, leaving Jace to wonder what the hell just happened.

& ~~~~

_> Are you free tomorrow morning?_

_> > Oh, so you remember how to reply to texts_

_> > That only took you, what, three days?_

_> Very funny Jace. I’m serious_

_> We need to talk about Simon._

&

Stiles and Jace meet at a coffee joint across campus, near the law school building where none of their friends would randomly happen upon them.

Jace’s stomach is in knots, and he’s not exactly sure what Stiles is here to say.

When Jace arrives, Stiles is already there with two hot drinks in front of him. Even with the dark cloud looming over them, Stiles is a good conversation partner as always, making small talk about classes devolving into a history lesson on the origins of Turkish pottery. But eventually the conversation dwindles, and soon they’re sitting quietly, sipping at their coffee.

Stiles finally asks, “Why didn’t you tell me that your Luke was Simon?”

“Wouldn’t have made a difference,” Jace said. “You were already a thing. I couldn’t compete.”

Stiles looks at him incredulously. “Wouldn’t have—Oh my god Jace! Of course it would have made a difference! I wouldn’t have gone for it if I had known you were in love with him. There is such thing as a bro code, you know.”

Jace narrows his eyes at Stiles. “And what part of the bro code says you should tell your boyfriend you had a fling with his friend and _not warn me about it,”_ he snaps. Stiles’ eyes widen in surprise, so Jace continues. “Yeah, Simon dropped that little bombshell on me after you left. I thought you said you’d tell me when it happened, that you’d only tell him when— if—”

 _If things get serious between us,_ Stiles had told Jace back in March.

Stiles is frowning again. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about the other day, when Simon ran off from the meeting.”

Jace thinks back on that day, and how odd Stiles and Simon had been acting, and how Simon had avoided him for nearly a week afterward until the art show. It makes sense now.

“It just kind of came out,” Stiles continues. “He was showing me some of your pages, the sequence where you and Alec have some kind of ritual bond thing and you have to strip off your shirt.  I made a comment about your tattoos that I probably shouldn’t have known about, considering they’re all…” He gestures with his hands to the areas along the hip where Jace and Alec have matching runes, and the W along his side that he rarely lets people see. “So I told him we hooked up.”

“He told me he was fine with it,” Jace says. He sips at his coffee just to have something to do with his hands. He’s trying to figure out what exactly Stiles is trying to tell him here. He’s going into a lot of detail with this story that Jace doesn’t necessarily want to hear.

Stiles nods. “He told me that too. Well, actually, he said verbatim: ‘I just assume that pretty much everyone's slept with Jace at this point. I figure it’s only a matter of time before I sleep with him myself.’”

Jace chokes on his coffee.

“What the hell does that mean?” he asks wildly.

“That he wants to bang you, obviously,” Stiles says. “I don’t blame Simon. You’re really hot, and good in bed to boot.” He’s oddly calm for talking about his boyfriend sleeping with another dude.

“I’ll admit, I was a little jealous,” Stiles says, continuing his monologue. “Maybe that’s what the whole werewolf thing was about, just trying to stay on the same radar. And, I don’t know. I guess your reaction after that made me think that maybe you could be into him. And the other night confirmed it.”

Stiles looks smug when he stops speaking, pleased that he figured it all out.

It’s an irritating look.

“Okay, so what,” Jace says, “Did you call me here to tell me to back off your man?”

Stiles laughs sharply. “No, don’t be ridiculous. Simon was hesitant to push our relationship forward. I think I have some idea why.”

Stiles leans in now, a hard look in his eye, and tells Jace, “I started paying attention to the way he talks about you and acts around you. He lights up around you, gets inspired by you. I thought at first that’s the way he is about all his friends—like how he talks about Clary and Izzy all the time. But with you there’s something more.”

“But—” Jace wracks his memory, trying to think of anything Simon’s done that would make Stiles think that. He comes up blank. “But he’s been avoiding me completely the last couple of weeks,” Jace protests weakly.

Stiles mouth twists up a little mockingly. “After I talked to him about you. That says a lot, doesn’t it?”

“So if you’re not warning me off, what is this about then?” Jace says, and gestures between Stiles and himself.

Stiles sits back and gives a beleaguered sigh. “I like Simon. I really do. He’s freaking adorable. But he likes you a hell lot more than he likes me, and I’m not going to keep doing this casual, cool relationship thing with him when you clearly both want each other in more than a cool, casual way.”

Jace is at a loss. “You’d break up with him, just like that?”

“It’s already done,” Stiles tells him. “We haven’t been seeing each other since the day after your show. I told him that if he didn’t see a future with us, we should just let it go.”

This is… this is more than Jace knows what to do with. The place inside him that has been constantly sinking in his chest the last few months is suddenly light. He wants to go paint a scene of sunshine and angels.

There’s only one problem.

Jace buries his head in his hands and groans. “Even if he does love me, how the hell am I supposed to get him to talk to me? He ran from me into the _biomedical library,_ and he hates medical stuff, gets all queasy about germs and blood. I’ve never been good at talking to him anyway, not about anything like this.”

Stiles laughs then, full and amused. “Well my friend. For that, I have a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is a little sad, but he does like a good plan. I’m banking on him finding love in a rebound. Maybe in a sterek spinoff fic. ;)


	6. SPRING QUARTER III: JUNE I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace tries to get his act together.

JUNE (1)   
  
  
  
There’s a furious knocking on Jace’s dorm room door while he’s trying to work. Jace ignores it in favor of the line art.   
  
“You going to get that?” Raj asks from where he’s sitting on his bed across the room with his laptop.   
  
“You go get it,” Jace says, still not really paying attention. They don’t particularly get along as roommates, so Jace doesn’t mind pissing him off.   
  
The pounding comes again, and Raj huffs in indignation when he slams his laptop shut and gets up off the bed to answer the door. “I’m coming!” he calls.   
  
A moment later, Raj is bowled over by a tiny figure storming into the room.   
  
“Jace!”  Clary shouts. When Jace looks up, she is the perfect picture of fury. Her red hair fans wildly around her face, expression scrunched in a snarl. “I can’t believe you could do this to Simon!”   
  
At Simon’s name, Jace’s heart flips. “I didn’t do anything!” Jace protests. He spins his chair to face Clary, propping his arm over the papers to hide them. Clary notices the movement and narrows her eyes suspiciously.   
  
Still though, he’s not entirely sure what Clary is yelling about. Did Simon find out about what he was working on for him? Was he upset by it?   
  
“Good try,” Clary scoffs, “But I’m onto you. I never pegged you for a boyfriend stealer.”   
  
Jace furrows his eyebrows as he struggles to follow her train of thought. “I didn’t steal anyone’s boyfriend,” he tells her.   
  
“So it wasn’t you spotted with Stiles over by the law library last week? And it wasn’t you who paid for his dinner over by the east campus dining hall?”   
  
“It’s not what it looks like,” Jace says helplessly.   
  
Clary’s mouth twists up in a dissatisfied smile and points an accusatory finger at him. “Ha! So you admit it. I can’t believe you. After everything—”   
  
“I’m in love with Simon!” Jace blurts out, waving his hands around to cut Clary off.   
  
Clary pauses, stunned at his confession. Jace swallows hard and continues.   
  
“I’m in love with Simon and Stiles is helping me win him over,” Jace explains in a rush. He’s clenching his fists so hard his finger nails are digging into his palm. “That’s why we’ve been meeting up, and I owe him at least a dinner for what he’s doing for me.”   
  
“Huh,” Clary says. Her fury has completely dropped. She tilts her head to the side curiously. “I didn’t expect that one.”   
  
Raj, on the other hand, is weirdly excited about the development. “I knew it!” he exclaims, pumping his fist in the air.   
  
“You don’t even know Simon,” Jace says sharply, wrinkling his nose.   
  
Raj rolls his eyes. “I read your webcomic. I actually think it’s good. I saw those sketches on your desk the other day and—”   
  
“That’s enough, Raj,” Jace snaps. He glances at his line work and back to Clary, whose interest shows on her face. “Can you give is a minute alone?”   
  
“Okay, fine,” Raj says, going to grab his books. “But you owe me a night to the dorm by myself.”   
  
“Alright,” Jace grumbles.   
  
“And your sister’s number?” Raj adds hopefully.   
  
Clary and Jace both shoot him a death glare. He withers on the spot.   
  
“Okay, not your sister’s number,” Raj amends, cringing.   
  
“Go away,” Clary grits out, and Jace is afraid for a moment he’ll have to pull her back from pummeling the guy.   
  
Raj scurries away, slamming the door behind him.   
  
Clary turns to Jace. “So Stiles is helping you woo my best friend,” she says. “I was under the impression you’ve never had to woo anyone in your life.”   
  
“I haven’t,” Jace says honestly. He gestures at his face and body. “I mean, look at me. But Simon’s been dodging me lately. I’m going to have to do something drastic here.”   
  
“So you’re going after him because he’s a challenge?” Clary questions, angry edge back in her voice.   
  
Jace holds up his hands to ward her off. “No! I would never,” he stresses. “I’ve liked him for ages. But somehow he’s the only person I’ve ever been like this around—the only person who has me tongue tied and nervous. He’s just so sweet and good and—I mean, you know that. You’re his ex-girlfriend. So…”   
  
He’s rambling. He knows he’s rambling. And he doesn’t stop rambling until he looks up and sees the teasing grin spread across Clary's face. “You really do like him,” she marvels. “I’ve never seen you this nervous about anything. And here I thought you were a smooth operator.”   
  
Jace feels how hot his cheeks flare. “Shut up,” he mutters at her as he spins in his chair to face back towards his desk.   
  
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to tease,” Clary apologizes, flopping down on his bed next to him and making herself comfortable. She leans over to peek at the pages Jace has open.   
  
“Do you think I stand a chance?” Jace asks weakly.   
  
Clary tilts her head as she ponders the question. “I mean, he thought you were hot from the very beginning. And these days he’s a big fan of you personally. As far as I can tell, he at least likes you as a person and wouldn’t put you through hell just because you confessed to him.”   
  
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Jace grumbles, turning back to his work.   
  
“Seriously though,” Clary says, laying a hand on Jace’s shoulder. “When he talks about you, he gets so excited. It’s a adorable. I really think you might have a chance.”   
  
Jace hopes so.   
  
&   
  
He hasn’t seen Simon since the art show. It’s really not that surprising, because Simon has his accounting midterms, and Jace has Stiles’ plan to work on.   
  
Jace is still skeptical about Stiles’ grand plan to expose all of Jace’s deepest feelings to Simon, thus leaving Jace vulnerable to potential ridicule and heartbreak.   
  
The problem, as Stiles pointed out to Jace, is that Jace has historically had trouble talking to Simon about his feelings. The one thing they do talk about regularly is their comic, so why not use that to tell him how he feels?   
  
“What if it doesn’t work?” Jace had asked at the time.   
  
“Then we move to Plan B: Face to face confrontation!” Stiles had replied cheerily.   
  
Jace imagined having to actually tell Simon how he feels, how Simon would look at him as he confessed. Despite both Clary and Stiles telling Jace that going for it is a Good Idea™, his stomach still clenched at the mere thought of what could go wrong.   
  
Still, Jace agreed to let Stiles help write the comic and set about making it happen.   
  
&   
  
‘Simon! Midterms aren’t killing you too much, are they?’ he texts the before their usual midweek Java Jones hangout.   
  
‘I just had my last one this morning,’ Simon replies near instantly. ‘I’m dead. You’ll have to give me a funeral. Please be careful with my prone body.’   
  
Jace huffs a laugh, and texts back, ‘Are we still on for a Thursday work session tomorrow? I emailed you some new pages earlier.’   
  
He doubts it, since Simon’s still avoiding him, but hopefully Simon gets the hint to read the new comic.   
  
‘Ah, oh my god! Sorry, I’ve got dress rehearsal for the talent show,’ Simon replies. ‘I won’t have time to meet until the weekend. The show is Friday, and right after that I promised my accounting buddies I’d be at their party...’   
  
‘Oh,’ Jace types. He stares at his phone in disappointment. It stretches a long moment before he texts again. ‘That’s fine. Good luck.’   
  
‘Thanks!’ Simon responds, adding a string of smiley face emojis.   
  
Jace thinks about giving up entirely.   
  
&   
  
He goes to Izzy’s room after that in complete distress. It’s forty-five minutes after Simon last texted back.  He feels like he’s gone crazy in the meantime.   
  
Izzy is completely delighted as Jace sits on her bed and recounts the last couple weeks.   
  
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Jace groans, after he’s gotten Izzy caught up in the story. He hangs his head miserably. “I can’t believe I let Stiles talk me into that comic. Simon’s probably not going to read it till after his talent show, and now I’m thinking it’s probably weird and creepy and not at all romantic. Especially when it sits in his inbox forever. That’s assuming he doesn’t just delete it entirely since he’s been avoiding me.”   
  
“Hey, hey,” his sister soothes. She sits next to him on the bed and places a soothing hand on his back. “Slow down. Take a breath. It’s going to be alright.”   
  
Jace runs a palm over his face as he remembers something else. “And now Stiles says I have to go with Plan B, and Izzy, I don’t know if I can do it.”   
  
“Oh ho,” Izzy grins widely. “You’ve got the master here to help. I must admit, I am a little jealous you went to Stiles first. But no matter; we’ll fix this up in no time.”   
  
“This isn’t going to be one of those things where you have us match costumes or practically sit on each other in the car, is it?” Jace asks, looking at Izzy wearily.   
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Izzy says, with an exaggerated air of innocence. “But if I did—no it wouldn’t be the same, because it’s actually going to work now that you’ve got your head in the game.”   
  
It does nothing to comfort Jace.   
  
&   
  
Jace goes to watch Simon’s talent show on Friday with Clary and Izzy.  Simon does great, of course. He sounds a lot different on his own compared to when he was in the band with Maureen. He’s a little more edge and original flair, a lot more comfortable in his skin. Jace watches, entranced.   
  
Clary nudges him when Simon’s singing. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice before. You look so besotted.”   
  
Jace scowls at her. She smiles sweetly in response.   
  
He sneaks out during the next performance and makes his way to the green room in the back, flashing the volunteer wristband Clary had handed to him. In his other hand, he grips a bouquet of flowers Izzy helped pick out, holding it behind his back. The other volunteers are too busy running around to give him a second glance, and Jace makes it backstage easily.   
  
The heavy door to the backstage area falls shut behind him, muffling the sound of the girl performing on stage.   
  
Simon is stacking his gear up on a dolly when Jace approaches. He does a double take when he notices Jace. A smile crosses his face, but it’s taut at the edges.   
  
“Hey, you made it,” he says, quickly glancing around and back at Jace. “Where’s Clary? She’s supposed to come help me take this stuff out to the van.”   
  
Jace holds up his hand with the wristband. “She sent me in her place. I think she wanted to just hang out with Izzy a little longer.”   
  
“Oh,” Simon says quietly. He fidgets with the handle of his keyboard case. “What did you think of my performance? I don’t know if that was the best sample of songs. I should have done a cover instead of originals. There’s a reason why YouTube artists doing covers get so many views, you know, and…”   
  
He’s doing the thing again where he rambles on and on while looking everywhere but at Jace’s face. Jace, on the other hand, can’t look away from Simon’s pretty eyes and mouth. Simon’s not wearing his glasses again, which let’s Jace see more of those bright eyes of his and the light flush high on his cheeks, a bead of sweat rolling down. Jace could look at his face for ever. He knows he’s here for a reason, but he can’t seem to bring himself to say it out loud.   
  
“... It’s not like there’s record labels watching this talent show anyway, and--hey, are those flowers?” Simon’s cheeks flush even more as he notices the bouquet Jace is holding by his side.   
  
“Oh yes,” Jace remembers, holding the flowers out to Simon. “These are for you,” he says gruffly.   
  
Simon’s face lights up as he steps closer to take the bouquet. “Lily of the Valley. How’d you know they’re my favorite?” He glances shyly up at Jace from under his long lashes.   
  
Jace feels the heat rise in his face and struggles to maintain his cool. “I didn’t know that,” he says, filing that factoid in the back of his mind. He folds his arms, tucking his hands in the crooks of his elbow to keep from fidgeting. “Clary picked the flowers and Izzy went to the store to get them, since I don’t have a car.”   
  
He realizes too late that it’s the wrong thing to say. At the words, Simon’s expression shutters and he hurriedly takes two steps back from Jace.   
  
“Oh,” Simon breathes again.  “So it’s from all of you. Thanks for bringing it to me, anyway. I suppose you’ll be going now?”   
  
Jace feels a stab in his gut, that Simon would think so little of him.   
  
“I actually wanted to talk to you,” Jace admits with a shrug. That’s a step closer, at least. “I was thinking after this talent show, we could go somewhere to talk?”   
  
“Well,” Simon says. He bites his lip as he thinks, looking a little guiltily at Jace. “I have to take all my stuff back to the dorm. And I promised my accounting friends I’d show up at their party tonight, so I have to get there right after.”   
  
Jace’s heart sinks, but Simon takes one look at his face and continues, “Maybe you can come with me? I just need to make an appearance, and we can talk there. Or after. Or wherever.”   
  
Jace can’t help but smile at that. “Yeah!” he says quickly. He mentally winces at his over-eagerness and tries to correct course. “I mean, yeah, I can definitely do that.”   
  
A slow smile crosses Simon’s face. “Okay, great. That’s--”   
  
At that moment, the door to the staging area swings open, and the loud beating of a taiko drum team floods the room.  A couple of backstage volunteers enter the hallway, lugging back some musical equipment with a slender girl directing them where to put all the gear. She stops when she notices Jace and Simon standing in the hallway.   
  
Well, she notices Simon at least.   
  
“Oh my god, Simon! It’s been forever!” she cries, launching into Simon with a full-bodied hug.   
  
“Maureen!” Simon says in surprise. He awkwardly returns her hug, but looks up at Jace with wide, scared eyes. Jace would find it funny if he wasn’t so frustrated by the interruption.   
  
“Oh I’m sorry,” Maureen says, disentangling from Simon. She keeps a hand tucked under Simon’s elbow and grins brightly at him. “I just got off-stage. I performed right after you! I’m still a little high from it.”   
  
“I’m sorry I missed it! I’m sure you did great,” Simon tells her. Jace knows that Simon’s saying that to be polite, but he can’t help but think that Maureen is taking it the wrong way, considering how she’s leaning into Simon now.   
  
“So hey,” she starts. “How’ve you been? We need to catch up. Are you still with Clary?”   
  
The obvious fish for information has Jace bristling. This is the girl who had caused so many problems between Clary and Simon. It’s natural that Jace doesn’t trust her.   
  
“Excuse me,” he interrupts, stepping closer to the two of them so he’s looming over them. Maureen nervously lets go of Simon’s arm and takes a step back. “Simon and I were in the middle of talking.”   
  
Maureen wrinkles her nose at Jace, but otherwise doesn’t respond to him. “Okay, well. I’ll see you around, Simon,” she chirps, giving Simon a hug and a peck on the cheek. She turns and walks away, leaving Simon looking a little dazed at the entire interaction.   
  
“Oh my god. That was so awkward,” Simon says apologetically He snaps out of it and looks back at Jace. “Okay, where was I?”   
  
“Midterms party,” Jace prompts.   
  
“Okay, yes. It’s an Accounting Club party at one of the east side apartments after this show. I’ll text you the details,” Simon says.   
  
Jace nods in confirmation and reaches a fist out for a fist bump goodbye. “It’s a date,” he adds, as Simon bumps his fist.   
  
Jace’s face immediately flares red and he turns to walk away briskly. He’s not sure what part of that goodbye was more cringeworthy, the fist bump or the date line. Hopefully Simon will forgive his lameness.   
  
&   
  
The party is in full swing when Jace shows up at the address that Simon sends him. Jace follows a couple strangers through the front door to the little house, and is somewhat surprised to see how crowded it is and how loud the music is in the house.   
  
He takes a moment to pull out his phone and text Simon.   
  
‘Hey, I’m here. Where are you?’ he types. He hits send, but his message fails.   
  
Go figure.   
  
Jace pushes inside to look for Simon. People give him appreciative looks when he squeezes by them, eyeing his freshly done hair and the place where he has the top buttons of his shirt undone.   
  
It makes Jace kind of regret his outfit decision. Goal number one was to look good for Simon, but he hadn’t expected to feel so overdressed in a see of guys in oversized t-shirts and girls in flip-flops.   
  
He’s intimidated by the crush of people he doesn’t recognize. There’s maybe thirty students here in this one house, the buzz of constant conversation competing with the house music pumping from a pair of DJ speakers set up in the living room.   
  
He starts searching through the house. Simon is not in the living room up front or in the dining room in the back. When Jace pokes his head in through the kitchen door, he’s disappointed to see that Simon’s not there either.   
  
There’s a circle of accounting students passing around a tray of colorful Jell-O shots who all look up at him as he enters the room. One of them recognizes him. It’s Stiles.   
  
“Heyyyy Jace!” he exclaims, breaking off from the circle to greet him. He throws an arm around Jace’s shoulder. Jace quickly shrugs him off. They might be friends, but Jace isn’t touchy-feely.   
  
“Stiles,” he greets curtly.   
  
“What are you doing here? You’re not part of the accounting club,” Stiles says, leaning again on Jace. His slurred words and blotchy cheeks making it clear that he’s had a few to drink already.   
  
“Simon invited me,” he tells Stiles.   
  
Stiles’ eyes light up. “You did it!” he crows, clapping Jace heavily on the back. “Congrats dude!”   
  
“Yeah, well,” Jace demurs. He’s hesitant to tell Stiles that he hadn’t exactly asked Simon out yet. Also, he’s hyper-aware of Stiles’ friends scrutinizing him, this stranger in their midst.   
  
“Who’s your friend?” one of the girls purrs, eying Jace up and down.   
  
“Hands off. He’s Simon’s boyfriend,” Stiles says, playfully swatting the girl away. Jace shoots a sharp glare at him, which goes unnoticed.   
  
“Boyfriend?” another girl asks. She passes the tray of shots to Stiles and continues, “I heard you calling Simon your snuggle bunny like, a week ago.”   
  
Stiles nearly spills the tray of shots as he laughs out loud. “No, yeah, I did say that! But we are just friends. Then this tall hunk of water came and swooped Simon off his feet,” Stiles says. He takes a shot from the tray and tries to hand it to Jace.   
  
“Okay, that’s enough,” Jace interrupts loudly, heading off what he’s sure is going to be one of Stiles’ meandering monologues.   
  
“Take a shot with us!” Stiles insists, pressing a Jell-O shot into his hand. Not wanting to be rude, Jace takes it.   
  
Jace nearly chokes on his shot. There’s more vodka in this than there is cherry flavoring. It tastes like rubbing alcohol with a dash of cough syrup, and it burns as he swallows it.   
  
Stiles laughs delightedly at Jace’s reaction.   
  
“Having some trouble there, buddy?” he teases.   
  
“Ye-yeah,” Jace croaks. He coughs a bit and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand as Stiles laughs at him. Then he asks what he came here for the first place. “Have you seen Simon?”   
  
”You should check the backyard,” Stiles suggests. “Give him my regards. And a shot of this stuff. They’re double shots of vodka--He’s going to love it.” He hands Jace another Jell-O shot and grins. Jace nods and excuses himself, stumbling out of the kitchen.   
  
The backyard is a little less crowded. The night is warm and soft. Jace nurses Simon’s plastic shot glass, scanning for a sign of Simon. It takes a moment, but he finally spots him in the back corner of the yard.   
  
Simon is set aside from everyone else. Maureen is standing close to him, their body language intense. Jace can’t tell what Simon’s saying when he leans close to be heard.   
  
They’re clearly talking about something private. It’s none of Jace’s business, but that doesn’t stop the heat in his chest from spreading. He feels lightheaded with the jealousy. He downs the shot he’s holding for Simon, just to have something to do with his hands.   
  
This whole scene is deja vu. It reminds him of Halloween, watching Clary and Simon across the room at Pandemonium, or of Spring Break, watching Simon and Stiles standing close to each other.   
  
Then Maureen is grabbing Simon by the shirt collar and pulling him close for a kiss.   
  
Disappointment grips Jace for a moment as he watches. He sees Simon push her away gently, saying a few soft words to her before she turns in embarrassment and runs away. When Simon watches her leave, he notices Jace. Their eyes lock, and he must see something in Jace’s expression because Simon’s eyes brows furrow and his mouth gaps open like he has something to say.   
  
Maureen dodges past Jace as she returns to the party. Jace is relieved, of course. And yet…   
  
He turns to walk away.   
  
“Jace!” he hears Simon shout behind him.   
  
He keeps walking. His feet feel like lead, his walk unsteady, and his vision is fuzzy around the edges. He stumbles over a crack in the pavement, but recovers quickly and keeps going. All he wants to do is get out of here.   
  
“Jace!”   
  
Simon’s all sunshine and rainbows. He’s the stuff dreams are made of. He could have anyone he wants. Why would he want Jace? Who is Jace to try to keep him?   
  
“Jace,” Simon calls again, catching up and grabbing onto Jace’s shirt sleeve. He pulls Jace to a stop. “Hold up man, where are you going?”   
  
“I can’t do this anymore,” Jace snaps, shaking Simon off. Simon’s grip forces him to turn so they’re face-to-face. “I can’t be your friend.”   
  
Simon’s expression crumples, confused and distraught. He reels back, putting distance between them. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?” Simon asks, ducking his head. “I thought…” He trails off, looking up at Jace with this look in his eye, like he’s hoping for a misunderstanding.   
  
Jace smiles wryly. His next words come unbidden, harsh the way he has made a habit of talking to Simon when he’s nerve-wracked: “It’s too hard. I’ve been here watching people basically throw themselves at you the entire time we’ve known each other, and I just can’t anymore.”   
  
Simon’s mouth drops incredulously. “What the hell are you talking about?!” The sharp edge in Simon’s tone is backed up by a fire in his eye. He throws his hands in the air, his voice rising angrily with every word. “You’re the one who can’t even talk to me about anything! You send me this cryptic comic that’s us going grocery shopping for mangos and somehow that means you’re into me or something—”   
  
“—You read that?” Jace butts in.   
  
Simon rolls his eyes. “Of course I did.  I read everything you send me pretty much as soon as I get it.”   
  
Which means Simon had lied to him about not reading it. Suddenly Jace is furious—at Simon for not saying anything, at Stiles for his stupid plan, at himself for this tangled knot of emotion in his chest that he doesn’t know what to do with.   
  
“I didn’t say anything because I wanted to talk to you face-to-face,” Simon continues, voice pitching upward in stress and his arms flail around for emphasis. “But obviously you’re not going to talk. The least you can do is hear me out. Sometimes I don’t even know why I like you, but God knows I do.”   
  
He says it with finality and clenches his jaw shut, eyes hard and defiant as if daring Jace to refute his words.   
  
On some level, Jace understands the words that are coming out of Simon’s mouth. Simon’s telling him something important, something he should care about.   
  
Jace has trouble making sense of it though, and through the haze of vodka he latches on to the acidity of Simon’s tone. It makes something aggressive rise in his chest.   
  
He laughs bitterly. “You like me? Give me a break,” he sneers, not caring about the way Simon visibly flinches. “I fell for you the moment we met, so don’t act like you’re the one being victimized here.” He takes a step toward Simon.   
  
Simon scowls and raises a pointed finger in Jace’s direction. “You’re drunk,” he accuses. “I am not having this conversation with you right now.”   
  
“But…” Jace says. Simon’s storming away. “Simon!” he calls out.   
  
“Not talking to you!” Simon tosses back. He disappears into the house.   
  
Jace is pretty sure he messed up.   
  
&   
  
Alec, being the best ever, picks Jace up from the party when he calls. The place is luckily not too far from Magnus and Alec’s place, so he doesn’t have to hang around the party awkwardly for long.   
  
“How much did you have to drink?” Alec asks, wrinkling his nose as Jace crawls into the backseat of his car. Magnus is riding in the front passenger seat, but at least this means Jace has more space in the back.   
  
“Two Jell-O shots,” Jace groans. He stretches out in the backseat, groaning miserably when the car rocks as they pull away from the curb. “But I think there were three shots worth of vodka each.”   
  
Magnus clicks his tongue in disapproval while Alec snorts.   
  
“You’re just a lightweight,” Alec says. Unhelpful. “What were you doing at a house party anyway? Doesn’t seem your scene.”   
  
“Simon,” Jace mumbles, but his face is pressed up against the leather of the backseat, so it comes out garbled.   
  
“Excuse me, I couldn’t make that out,” Magnus says. “Cyril? Spyro? What a unique name.”   
  
Jace groans and sits up to face Magnus, who is turned around in his seat and looking at him expectantly.  “Simon. He’s this guy I’m… interested in.”   
  
Magnus gives him a sympathetic look, and Jace finds himself spilling the entire story of the last couple days to him—how he was trying to get up the nerves to confess, but everything just seemed wrong. First Stiles’ plan with the comic, then Izzy’s plan with the flowers. By the time they park outside Magnus and Alec’s apartment, he’s describing how he’d gone to the party to see Simon, and then got too worked up to do anything right.   
  
Magnus helps Jace out of the car and lets Jace lean against him as they ride up the elevator. “Poor biscuit,” he coos, stroking Jace’s hair comfortingly.   
  
Jace isn’t one for physical contact, but he finds that the petting does help him feel better. The bitter anger in Jace’s chest has started wane, along with the haze of hard liquor from earlier. It leaves just a dull, hollow feeling in his gut of knowing that he’s messed something up irreversibly.   
  
“I just don’t know what I can do,” Jace groans. “Everything I’ve done so far has been wrong. Everything since he art show has been a disaster.”   
  
Magnus pats Jace’s head again. “I’m not going to tell you what to do… but have you considered that maybe where you’ve gone wrong is that you haven’t been yourself? This Stiles--he was the one who insisted you do the comic and wrote it for you. And Izzy’s method didn’t quite work either, since the flowers weren’t really yours to give. I’m not even going to mention this house party incident tonight. In any case, let’s get you to bed...”   
  
Magnus leads him to the second bedroom and opens the door. They’ve since finished converting the room back into a guest bedroom after Jace’s depressive art phase. It’s a been a little over two months since Jace had packed up all his art easels, though he’d left a couple of his paintings here instead of dragging them back to either Brooklyn or his campus apartment.   
  
He’s surprised to see one of his paintings hanging on the wall across from the bed. It’s part of the series that he has showing in the student gallery right now, this one a wide castle hall, except Clary had helped convince him to add life to the painting. He had added a sunrise filtering through stained glass to the hall, a symbolic hope to the piece that had started out an embodiment of his own loneliness.   
  
He stares at the painting for a long moment until Magnus’ voice breaks through his thoughts.   
  
“I hope it’s okay that I put your piece up for display.”   
  
“No, that’s alright.” Jace shoots him a small smile. “It’s giving me some ideas.”   
  
&   
  
The student art gallery is open on weekends from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, but there’s rarely anyone here besides the student worker at the front desk.   
  
Jace is the only one in the gallery now. He had bribed the student worker to let him have the place to himself—not that anyone’s coming in on the Sunday the week before Finals. He’s pacing in front of his corner of the gallery, focused on breathing deep and mentally rehearsing the apology and confession he’s prepared.   
  
He’s muttering under his breath when he hears the door of the gallery open, the footsteps of someone entering the gallery echoing off the walls.   
  
Jace turns to see Simon standing there, staring blankly in surprise at the other man.   
  
“You’re not Clary,” he accuses. He glances down at his phone, looking betrayed. “I can’t believe she set me up like this!”   
  
“Surprise?” Jace quips weakly.   
  
Simon frowns and crosses his arms over his chest, unamused.   
  
Jace takes a moment to study Simon. He looks a little worse for wear, wearing a rumpled t-shirt and wiry stubble coming in thick on his face even though it’s only been a couple of days. His eyes look tired and the defensive arc of his shoulders still looks resigned.   
  
“Listen, we don’t have to talk about this,” Simon sighs. He bows his head so they’re not looking eye to eye. “I forgive you for the thing at the party, okay? You were drunk, I know you didn’t mean it—”   
  
“I did mean it, though,” Jace blurts. Simon furrows his brow, ticked off. Jace continued, “Well, not the part where I was shouting at you or trying to make you feel bad. I’m really sorry about that. But the rest of it…”   
  
Jace lets the words hang in the air. Simon shifts minutely, looking up at him with guarded eyes.   
  
He’s expecting Jace to continue, Jace realizes. It’s terrifying, this feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff. He feels vulnerable, like one breath from Simon can break him apart.   
  
“I have a hard time with words,” he says finally. “That’s why I draw and paint instead. Most of the time, when I want to get with someone, I don’t have to use a lot of words to get to them. I mean, look at me.” Jace gestures at his body, earning an eye roll from Simon. It’s a familiar and fond gesture, which boosts Jace’s resolve. “But with you, it’s different. I keep wanting to impress you, to flirt with you, but for some reason I’m always tripping all over myself around you.”   
  
“And that’s why you drank before you came to talk to me last night?” Simon prompts.   
  
Jace nods. “You make me nervous,” he confesses. “And I’m not used to that. I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to do something—anything—ever since Stiles told me to go for it. He was the one who wrote that story, you know. It was kind of weird; not really a me thing to do.”   
  
Simon snorts a laugh. “That’s a little understated. It was so far out of normal I thought I was being pranked. Same with the flowers… nice gesture, and I was really happy, but Izzy put you up to that, didn’t she?”   
  
He unfolds his arms and fidgets, first putting them his hands on his hips, then brushing his palms along his jeans, then shoving his fists in his pocket. The odd half-grimace on his face matches the awkward motion; Jace counts that as a win.   
  
“I realized that’s where I’ve gone wrong with this confession thing,” he admits. “I should be myself with you, not follow someone else’s plan. So instead of a comic or flowers… this is what I have for you.”   
  
Jace takes a step aside and sweeps an arm out at his paintings. He means for it to be a grams gesture, but Simon just tilts his head in confusion.   
  
“That’s just your art exhibit?”   
  
Jace sighs in frustration. “Yes, it is. It’s for you, Lewis. It always has been. There’s like three more of them back at Alec’s place.”   
  
Simon’s eyes go round like saucers. “For real?” he breathes. He steps up to the paintings on display, looking at them like he’s never seen anything like them. “So you really really like me, don’t you.”   
  
Jace doesn’t say anything in response, just watches Simon with apprehension and fondness until Simon turns and levels one of his sunshine bright smiles straight at him.   
  
Jace can’t help but crack a smile right back.   
  
He takes a step forward and holds out a hand in Simon’s direction. It takes a long moment until Simon is reaching out and taking his hand. A thrill runs up his spine when their palms meet.   
  
Jace holds Simon’s hand like that, holding his gaze, hoping that Simon can see his vulnerability in his eyes   
  
“I’m no good,”Jace confesses, “and I’m no good with this kind of stuff. I’m not into the same things you are—I don’t really get your music, or your Star Wars references, or your obsession with superheroes and sci-fi—but I’m into you, and I want to be with you, if you’ll let me.”   
  
“I like you too,” Simon grins back. He tugs Jace forward, till they’re nearly chest to chest. His bright eyes gaze up into Jace’s, and Jace can’t look away. “But a few ground rules.”   
  
“Fire away,” Jace responds quickly.   
  
“First of all, no more getting drunk and shouting at me.” He pokes Jace in the chest with his freehand for emphasis. “If you do that again, I am out.”   
  
Jace winces, thinking of how he had treated Simon the other night. “That’s fair enough,” he concedes.   
  
“Also, we’re boyfriends and we’re exclusive.” Simon says this insistently, but the look in his eye is vulnerable.  Jace just wants to pull him close and assure him that he feels the same. Simon continues: “I’m all in on this. If you’re not, speak now or forever hold your peace.”   
  
Jace nods his head quickly. “Yes, yes of course,” he agrees, his smile tugging on his lips. “I’m all in. I promise you, Simon.”   
  
Simon smiles shyly back. “Okay, good. Now you can kiss me.”   
  
Jace does as he’s told.   
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me this far. There *is* one more chapter I’m working on to wrap up, so look forward to that. 
> 
> See you next time!

**Author's Note:**

> Hang out with me [on tumblr](http://the-undergod.tumblr.com/).


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